I’ve seen these two mention as being the as the simplest but most effective palate cleansers. But when you eat spicy food you don’t want to drink water. You want drink milk instead. Are there certain situations you take water and crackers instead? I want to understand the science behind this!
In: Chemistry
This is just speculating, but if you are doing it to reduce the heat after spicy food, it is that the cracker is quite dry like a sponge. It will absorb spicy capcasium oils and force you to make more saliva, which will further help rinse oils. Then the water washes it down.
Salty crackers are bland and dry. They encourage your mouth to produce saliva and rinse everything out, while not contributing any real flavor. So they’re handy for a quick cleanser if you need to be able to taste well when you switch dishes/courses.
Milk is particularly good in the context of spicy foods because it helps disrupt capsaicin from binding to the pain receptors that make it feel like you’re burning. This is different from just wanting to help reset your palette between courses.
Taste tester here. Water and *un*salted crackers are the industry standard palete cleansers because they are neutral as they can be. They are not there to cover another flavor or taste, they are there to remove the taste from your mouth. They are also just the best overall, but not best for every situation. For example, milk is used for spicy products, but since it is not neutral, it’s often followed by, you guessed it, water and crackers. Carrots are also used almost as often, the advantage being they do not dry the mouth as much, the disadvantage is they have a slight flavor. For foods with difficult textures, seltzer water is often used, but the disadvantage is the slight taste, bitterness and astringency, so it’s avoided if possible.
Edit for context: I answered from a food assessment perspective because that’s where that statement is true. There are also palate cleansers from a dining perspective to compliment the food, like ginger with sushi, where complete neutrality is not the goal.
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