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What’s in a smell?
How we react to certain smells
- Smells can alert us about danger - we're repulsed by the smell of sewage and rotting food.
- We don't all respond to odour molecules in the same way.
- Butyric acid contributes to the smell of both Parmesan cheese and vomit, so it may smell offputting or appealing, depending on the situation.
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How smell works
- Odour molecules that move through the air up your nostrils will bind to special smell receptors on the surface of nerve cells.
- The nerve cells send a signal to the brain's olfactory bulb, that is behind the bridge of the nose.
- People have about 400 different smell receptor types.
- The odour molecules create a pattern of activation in the nerve cells that the brain translates as a smell.
When we lose our sense of smell
A complete loss of smell, known as anosmia, can occur after a cold, sinus infection or even a bump to the head.
Anosmia affects the flavour of food. However, it isn't always permanent and may recover naturally or through exercises like 'smell training' to re-stimulate the olfactory system.
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Our Sense Of Smell And Our Memories
Certain smells that are associated in our minds to events or locations from the past, trigger our memories to revisit them. This association of the past through the sense of smell works bet...
The Memory Association
According to a 2004 research, the sense of smell is a complicated process.
- The olfactory receptor cells send a neuron signal to a part of our brain which is called the olfactory bulb.
- This multistep process which involves over a thousand genes and the nerves connect to the amygdala of the brain, the area responsible for processing emotions.
- It also connects to the memory and cognition area called the hippocampus, forming the association.
1,700 distinct varieties of cheese
Animal milk is used to create over 1,700 distinct varieties of cheese; creamy Brie, buttery Gouda, crumbly Parmesan, stringy mozzarella, sharp Cheddar, to name a few.
The staggering variety...
From milk to cheese
All cheeses start from animal milk, including cow, buffalo, goat, sheep, and even camel.
- The milk is first warmed to a temperature ideal for microbes to flourish.
- Next, acid or rennet is added, alongside some 'starter' bacteria that causes the milk proteins and fats to coagulate, curdling the milk.
- The curds can be drained and chopped into chunks and scooped into moulds.
- The initial 'starter' bacteria die off over several weeks and other microbes take over to enhance the flavour that creates the potent flavours and aromas.
- Salt is added to stop microbes responsible for spoiling the process.
- The 'ripening' microbes break the proteins in the cheese into amino acids, many of which have their own flavour.
- Particularly voracious bacteria and fungi will break down amino acids even further to produce the truly smelly by-products.
The source of cheese’s flavour
Over the months of ripening, smelly parts can interact in new ways to produce more flavour-carrying molecules, such as a hint of nutty, spicy, woody, grassy, or burnt oats. More fat in the cheese generally makes it tastier.
Flavour compounds typically dissolve well in oils, fats, and alcohol, but poorly in water. Fat-rich foods will therefore cover your tongue with a flavour that lingers.
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Detoxing is a hoax
There's no evidence that drinking a series of juices, teas, or any of other so-called 'detox' products does anything besides profit the people selling them.
Toxins and our urge to detoxify
A toxin is something that can be harmful to you, but this is about as broad a term as it gets. There's a spectrum; toxicity depends on what it is and how much you take in.
The urge to detoxify your body when a new year starts has nothing to do with a buildup of toxins. Feeling bloated and fatigued is the result of the all the holiday eating.
Your liver helps you detoxify
Everything you eat goes to your liver and it determines what to do with the components of what you've ingested:
If it's something useful the liver sends it out into circulation, but if it's not immediately usable or could be harmful, your liver has enzymes to neutralize it and send it off as waste to be removed from the body through urine, mostly. The best you can do to help your liver out is to hydrate and exercise.
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