Taste of life: Savor the Sour
When you hear the word “sour” the first thing you think of might be lemons, oranges, apple juice, and tomatoes. Countries across the globe world use sour ingredients as a secret weapon for their food. Chefs present dishes on the table, making sourness to flow throughout the air into your nose and trigger sensitive signals, making you eager to finish the dish. Messages pop out in your head: “Delicious!” “I want it!” “Go ahead and eat it!” You start slobbering and your stomach starts yelling. Lemon and vinegar are the most common ingredients chefs use as the source of sour, and they are the major reason you feel eager to eat.
Vinegar, the special weapon of Asian food
Vinegar is most applicable in Chinese food. Vinegar is a seasoning found in any and all Chinese kitchens. Chinese cuisine normally has black colored rice vinegar, which tastes milder and less acidic than American vinegar, and also has a deeper flavor. Dipping sauces and stir-fries usually incorporate vinegar. In the U.S. and western countries, we eat salads with all kinds of dressings. The most common salad dressings are ranch, honey mustard, and Caesar. Comparatively, Asian countries including China, Korea, and Japan, use vinegar as the salad dressing. Western countries’ salad dressings offer tasteless salads with different flavors, while vinegar improves a salad’s own taste, and makes a salad savory. Vinegar is also an indispensable ingredient for stews, it uses its own taste to give other ingredients a brand-new look and taste, completely covering the smell of food.
For instance, sometimes sensitive diners can smell pork’s own flavour, with the participation of vinegar in “Sweet and Sour Ribs,” diners can only taste the creative union between two opponents, sugar and vinegar, giving the ribs a fresh, crisp appearance with juicy flesh inside.
As food reaches the top of the tongue, we taste the sweet first. Then, the aroma occupies the whole mouth and spreads to the sides of the tongue, causing us to actually feel the sour of vinegar. As we gently bite through the surface, the meat’s juices jump out of the bondage of its crispy surface. But vinegar is not the only sour ingredient making you salivate; lemon is another one.
Lemon: how fruit plays a big role in dishes
Lemons grow on trees, and unlike vinegar manufacturing goods, lemons are one hundred percent natural. 64% of the vitamins lemons provide is vitamin C, which is the best remedy for skin health, making the skin shine. Like vinegar, lemon is a secret weapon for cooks across the globe, from baking desserts to cooking dinners, Asian food to western food, and lemon pie to lemon chicken.
Lemon pie is a favorite among sweets lovers because it tastes sweeter than sour. Comparatively, for sour lovers, lemon pie tastes more sour than sweet. Lemon also plays a major role in dish lemon chicken. Lemon chicken perfectly combines with fruit and other meats, and each bite of lemon chicken is different from the others. Sweet first touches the top of the tongue, as the chicken meat passes through the mouth, and then sour directly follows sweet and salty at the end. After swallowing the chicken, the lemon fragrance lingers in the mouth.
Sourness, no matter vinegar or lemon, always plays a major role in dishes.
Are you feeling hungry? Slobbering? Go ahead and find yourself some sour food!
