Long Live the Tongue

Today I spent four hours using my tongue in new ways. A small group of us at work have been selected to take “Sensory Training” classes and I could not wait to continue expanding the knowledge of my palate. I love tasting and I love creating. Knowledge of the tongue intrigues me as much as any voyage with passport in hand could.

I mapped out the four zones of the tongue and learned I am not “bitter blind”. I would like to take the “Super Taster” test but think I’m not a super taster since vegetables typically are not really bitter to me. The tests felt like fun games where it was me against me. Salty, sweet, sour and bitter specifically introduced themselves to me and thus we began our cuppings of tea with fresh eyes. I aced the tests, but found no surprise in this. Give me a complex math problem and you will find a hollow wind blowing through my eyes. But the palate, the tongue is quite another beast. And he is one I pet and feed sugar cubes from time to time.

Tomorrow, class resumes and we will spend the morning studying aroma and flavors of different types of fruit, while the afternoon will focus on spices. I could write an ode to the tongue- long live the tongue!