09/07/2023
At first glance, saliva seems like pretty boring stuff, merely a convenient way to moisten our food. But the reality is quite different, as scientists are beginning to understand. The fluid interacts with everything that enters the mouth, and even though it is 99 percent water, it has a profound influence on the flavors — and our enjoyment — of what we eat and drink.
Take wine. When you sip, aromatic molecules such as fruity-smelling esters (colored dots in glass) mix with the saliva in your mouth. This interaction traps some molecules, while others pass into the throat passages (upper diagram). From there, these molecules drift upward to the olfactory region in the nasal passages, where they are perceived as fruity flavors (lower diagram). Since saliva differs in composition and flow rate from person to person, this may allow the same glass of wine to evoke different flavors for each person...
