About a month ago, I prepared a dish…………….ok, I should probably qualify it as an “experimental dish”, for dinner.  I forged ahead with a concept extracted from a book that I referred to recently called Taste Buds and Molecules by Francois Chartier.  In this book, Francois, through years of painstaking research, has identified specific molecules and compounds inherent to foods and wines that give them their particular flavor and taste.  Once you’ve identified the overlap between a given universe of food and wine related scents, the door is wide open for experimental pairing.  While I detailed the overlap between several herbs and vegetables with wines in the last segment, this time around I dug into a new universe punctuated by a molecule that all but chemists and perhaps a few obsessive chefs are aware of.  It’s called Sotolon or 4,5-dimethy-3 hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone for chemistry buffs.  So why is Sotolon so intriguing?

This little known molecule is responsible for the unique flavor of curry, walnuts and recreates the odor of caramel, maple syrup, brown sugar, molasses beef bouillon, figs , dates, prunes, dried mushrooms, soy, black or smoky teas, coffee, mature rum and Havana tobacco.  It’s also found in fenugreek seeds, simulating the aroma of maple syrup and molasses and is responsible for the aroma of rancid walnuts.   But as they say, wait……………there’s more.

Roasted fenugreek seeds also contain molecules from the cyclotene family which is found in maple syrup.  Cyclotene’s aroma, very reminiscent of maple syrup and to a lesser degree licorice, also resembles another compound called furanone, a compound that evokes aromas of caramelized maple syrup and is pronounced in soy sauce and burnt sugar.  Not surprisingly, many of the above compounds and associated aromas are present in select wines, as well.