January 20

Today we started by tasting three different types of Santander dark chocolates. The first type was a 70% dark chocolate which had a bit of a burnt taste. However, the smell was much closer to the 53% which also smelled dark and rich in cocoa. The difference was that the 53% tasted very milky and sweet; very close to a milk chocolate. On the other hand, the 65% dark chocolate smelled like shaving cream and was more sour and fruity than the others making it more astringent. Others in the class said that it tasted like raisins, but I was never able to pick up on this.

After the chocolates, we moved into cheese tasting. The first type was parmesan which was super intense and astringent. But really, it was just a drier and more intense parmesan. The second type was pecorino which tasted like some sort of pepper or spice (I never could put my finger on what kind). And finally, there was the Myzithra which both tasted and felt like cardboard with a rancid aftertaste. These are three cheeses that I have no desire to ever try again.

Then we moved on to the vinegar tasting. We started with a red-wine vinegar which had a very pickly taste. Just like all the others, I was able to taste the sourness and acidity which are characteristics of vinegars. The second type is Balsamic Vinegar which was more mildly acidic but had a bolder flavor. The third type we tried was a cider vinegar which tasted almost exactly like green apples, but with a little more of a pickly taste. When we started the tasting I was sure that I was not going to like vinegar. i had tried it so many times in the past that one more time wasn't going to change my preference. And I was right.

After the vinegar tasting, we put a small pill of miracle fruit extract on the tongue and let is dissolve there. It was amazing the effect that it had on taste perception! It made eating lemons and limes taste like plain candy (like a gummy bear or something). I also tried the vinegar, and the acidity was gone, but I still didn't like it. This told me that it was the taste of the vinegar, and not the vinegar sting that I didn't like. I noticed that the taste difference seemed to be a little more pronounced in some of my classmates than myself, and I started to wonder if I had gotten the full effect. I do know that I was experiencing at least some difference, because my lips and the back of my mouth, where the pill had not reached, were tingling as if getting the full effect of the sourness. When I tested its effects again at lunch 20 minutes later, I found no effect at all. Our conclusion was that the bread of the sandwich had wiped the extract off of the taste buds.  At least it was really cool while it lasted.