Flavors and Textures

Each of the sections in this chapter is meant to build upon the previous one. The methods have been covered and the most common preparations were charted. The next logical step is to look into flavors and textures in order to put together a dessert.

What is flavor? Flavor can be explained simply as the combination of taste and smell. Flavor is 80 percent aroma. When you taste a lemon, what you are tasting is its acidity, sourness, and, to a much lesser extent, saltiness. What you smell, however, is aroma, and that is what signals to the brain that it is a lemon. When both of these factors (aroma and taste) are combined, the result is flavor. This is why when you have a cold you cannot taste your food very well and also why when you are hungry your sense of smell gets stronger. We can only perceive three aromas at a time. Any more than that is too much and the aromas will become muddled and not distinct. The same goes for tastes. More than three different tastes cannot be identified clearly. Try to keep your desserts within those parameters.