Starch has a distinct, floury taste.
It was previously thought that we primarily perceive starch as sweet because enzymes in our saliva begin to break it down into shorter carbohydrate chains and simple sugars upon consumption. However, studies have investigated the taste of starch more directly.
According to research by taste expert Lim, when relatively shorter carbohydrate chains derived from starch were tested with a panel of tasters, they reported a specific, floury taste in the solutions. This suggests that beyond the sweetness that emerges as starch breaks down, starch itself, or its initial breakdown products, possesses a taste quality described as floury.
Understanding the taste of starch is interesting because it's a fundamental component of many staple foods:
- Grains: Wheat, rice, corn
- Tubers: Potatoes, cassava
- Legumes: Beans, lentils
While these foods can become sweet when chewed extensively (due to enzymatic breakdown), the initial taste sensation attributed directly to the starch molecule itself appears to be that floury taste. This taste contributes to the overall flavor profile and mouthfeel of many common foods.
This finding highlights that our perception of complex carbohydrates involves more than just the sweetness resulting from digestion; there's a specific taste associated with the starch molecules or their initial fragments before significant sugar conversion occurs.
