What makes water and salted crackers palate cleansers?

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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

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

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.

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