My first cuisine blog

Today’s a short one and quite divorced from my usual content. No matter. Today, I go into a little bit of odd knowledge I have, including the two foods that stick the longest on the taste buds.

My favorite drink is kombucha, specifically a watermelon flavor that is only sold at some grocery stores (and not the one I usually have the time to go to). Drinking kombucha, however, is an involved process.

The basic problem is that kombucha is fermented. Unless you get the really sweet kombuchas (like the Kroger brand), it will taste rather like vinegar, being a related product (it’s fermented tea). Drinking it, therefore, can easily be an unpleasant experience.

The key is to decide what taste will be in your mouth going in. Whenever you eat a food, your mouth sets a baseline, and that baseline can last for quite a long time. If you don’t believe me, eat a sweet grape or two, then some grapefruit. Alternately, eat baking chocolate (unsweetened) and then try the grapefruit.

I want to drink kombucha that doesn’t taste like vinegar. The solution is to prepare my taste buds with bitter foods. This may sound unpleasant, and it was occasionally in the past. Now, however, I have come to enjoy unsweetened cocoa powder in itself, provided I have water.

The secret to having your kombucha- or other bitter-but-tastes-better-sweet foods- taste at least relatively sweet is threefold, with a caveat.

Step one: don’t eat immediately prior, particularly not sweet foods, particularly not fatty, sweet foods. If you eat a frosted brownie, you’re going to have to wait a while before this process works. As a rule, end eating on relatively neutral foods (you’d be surprised how significant the aftereffects of something as mild as a pecan or a glass of milk can be). Remember also that water doesn’t get rid of fat-containing foods; the only reliable ways to get rid of the effect of something with both fat and sweetness are to either wait a long, long time or eat a fatty food, like pecans (one or two, if it’s been a while since eating).

Step two: eat a neutral fat. One to two pecans is often sufficient. Sunflower seeds, almonds, and the like can also work, though pecans are my favorite and seem to work the best. Walnuts, be aware, are their own double-whammy, given their strong taste. I’ve used cheese on occasion, with spotty success.

Step three: eat something bitter. My favorites are cocoa powder (unsweetened pre-chocolate cocoa; coarser than the powder used in baking but otherwise the same thing) and unsweetened baking chocolate. I actually enjoy eating these recreationally, though- which is quite healthy, for the cocoa powder.

Then, drink the kombucha. I’m partial to the Synergy brand, when I buy, given my dislike for stevia and similar natural sweeteners, as well as my habits. The caveat is that this process won’t always work. Two foods in particular have a consistent track record of foiling it for hours after consumption: pineapple (which changes how I taste all food for several hours thereafter…) and icecream (a result of the combination of cold, fat, sugar, and sugar).

Hope you enjoyed the change from standard programming.

God bless.