Just wondering if any of you consider yourselves to be super tasters, or have been labeled as such by others?
I’ve always had a pretty good palate, have been able to discern usually what spices are in things and how to replicate resto meals & etc. BUT, I’ve never really considered myself to be a super taster.
Long story short, due to dental and adverse medication issues for the first 9 months of 2019, I completely lost my palate, as well as appetite. Everything tasted like c**p! When I felt well enough to cook H needed to be my taster and tweak the food before serving.
Also became unable to eat any hot spices, whereas, used to be a Chile head. Bemoaned the fact this may be a permanent change.
With the resolution of the medication issue, I’ve slowly regained my ability to taste and then some! The tolerance has gone up for spicy, but not all the way.
But back to my point here; with the renewed palate I have become a super taster, and it is indeed a mixed blessing. I taste plastic, cardboard, inferior oils, the slightest bit of oxidation, as well as mold, before I can even see it.
Not me as I recall, but my daughter did an experiment about that in the fourth grade! I remember putting on of those loose leaf reinforcement rings on her tongue, taking a picture that magnified it, and counting taste buds.*
And there were tasting parts too.
You and some of the other posters seem to be conflating having a discerning sense of taste with being a Supertaster (an unfortunate and incorrect term). See the article linked by Shrinkrap, or Wikipedia, for an accurate description.
No I don’t think I’m a super taster with the definition with @shrinkrap 's article.
Although something weird is happening. Certain meals I felt I was with a sugar filter, everything savoury dish tasted sweet. I asked the others, they didn’t seem to have tasted this. I don’t know if this is due to a dental implant a year ago.
Hard to describe mold, other than a super musty, awful taste. As @naf pointed out however, some molds taste great, as in Roquefort, Cambazola and many other cheeses.
Oh, and I definitely don’t think my sense of smell has improved.
Well you are certainly entitled to your opinion @greygarious! I tend not to trust Wikipedia as gospel, and have reservations about Healthline. I also don’t care for the term conflation. There is a thing called biodiversity, however.
Still interesting, all in all. Happy New Year - hope 2020 is good to you. It has a nice ring to it I think!
As @greygarious and suggested links indicate , there’s an established scientific term (one word) “supertaster” (coined by researcher Linda Bartoshuk in 1991) and a colloquial term that you’re using (two word phrase) “super taster”.
Thank you @hyperbowler for the clarification; I do prefer a peer reviewed research article, but will probably read them both. Fascinating topic, really. Happy New Year!
Actually, I probably won’t read the book Taste, realistically.
I’m definitely not a supertaster in the sense of ordinary things tasting too strong and thus being a picky eater (which I definitely am not), but I have a very well-developed palate and can pick out notes that my wife can’t. (I once ascertained that a beer we were drinking had been brewed with cardamom.) I have hypersensitivity, which is awful when it comes to hearing and pretty good when it comes to smell and taste. In fact, I’m in the process of doing a mid-life career change and hope to find opportunities in the coffee industry (or maybe another industry) as a taster.
