My Favorite Flavor
What is flavor?
Flavor is the overall sensory experience of a substance, determined by taste, smell, and texture. It can be described using basic tastes like sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami, along with other elements such as aroma (floral, fruity, earthy), texture (creamy, crisp), and physical sensations like temperature and spiciness.
My Favorite Flavor takes a closer look at the different things we share with our tastebuds; from a juicy t-bone steak to the various tasty ingredients that you may find in a garden salad. My Favorite Flavor will discuss the preparation of foods as well as get a good understanding of the benefits of our food.
The Flavor Team inside of My Favorite Flavor is made up of an array of foodies. There are professional chefs in our group, and there are food enthusiasts who live and breath with gourmet palates.
The discussions we will have will cover domestic as well as exotic cuisine. Do you want to add to the discussion...? Feel free to join in on the conversation...
In this edition, we take a look at the all mighty cookie. If happiness had a mascot, it would be a cookie. Warm, tiny, portable, and socially acceptable to eat at breakfast (Hello, biscotti!). Cookies have been bringing joy to the human palate for more than 1,300 years. Yes - long before chocolate chips or cookie dough ice cream, people were already dunking, crunching, and sneaking cookies from the kitchen.
Our cookie journey begins in Persia (modern-day Iran) around the 600s. This is the first place where sugar became widely available. Bakers were experimenting with sweetened doughs, and someone eventually asked the question destined to change dessert history forever: What if we bake a small test piece before putting the whole cake in the oven?
That test piece was practical, not indulgent - like a flavor sample. However, people quickly realized the samples were... um ... better than the cake. And BOOM, humanity never looked back.
By the Middle Ages, European bakers were going wild with ginger, cinnamon, and honey. Monks baked spiced bisquits, royals demanded shortbread bisquits, and bisquits literally meant "twice baked". Twice baked meant longer shelf life, which meant travelers could carry cookies on long journeys - the original energy bar.
During the Renaissance, cookies became status symbols. Aristocrats had elaborate molded cookies decorated like edible jewelery. Wealthy households served them to brag about their sugar budget - the 1500s equivalent of posting luxury photos on Instagram.
Meanwhile, ordinary people made simpler treats, and bakers started selling street cookies. Everyone got a bite of the fun.
When European settlers arrived in the Americas, they brought cookie recipes with them. Early American cookbooks included ginger snaps, jam-filled treats, and spice cookies. Colonists used local ingredients like maple syrup and molasses, turning global inspiration into regional flavor.
America's most famous cookie didn't show up until 1938, when Ruth Wakefield accidentally invented the chocolate chip cookie at the Toll House Inn. Legend says she ran out of baker's chocolate and chopped up a Nestle chocolate bar instead. She expected it to melt smoothly; it did not.
Instead, the chocolate held its shape - and the world gained a legend.
What is your favorite flavor when it comes to cookies?
Being Added To The Menu...
Culinary Perspective
- Chocolate Chip
- Snickerdoodle
- Sugar
- Butter Toffee
- Oatmeal Raisin
- Ginger Snaps
- Chocolate Chip w/Pecans
- Madeleines
- Chocolate-Choclate Chip
- Biscotti
- Macarons
- Peanut Butter
Seasonal Spotlight
- Gingerbread
- Red Velvet Cake
- Cheesecake
- Rum Balls
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Pralines
- German Chogolate Cake
- Pecan Pie
- Tiramisu
- Yule Log
Healthy Personal Chef
Teasing your tastebuds with strawberries...strawberry content makes them a good choice for weight management and blood sugar regulation, while antioxidants like anthocyanins may also protect against chronic diseases.
Teasing your tastebuds with ginger...ginger provides numerous benefits due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, including reducing nausea, aiding digestion, and easing pain.
Teasing your tastebuds with raisins...Raisins are a nutrient-dense, naturally sweet dried fruit that offer numerous health benefits. Raisins can help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, promote a healthy gut, and contribute to bone density.
Teasing your tastebuds with chocolate...Dark chocolate offers benefits such as improved heart and brain health, due to its rich content of antioxidants called flavanols, which may lower blood pressure and enhance cognitive function.
Teasing your tastebuds with eggs...A single large egg contains about 70-77 calories, 6 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fat, with vitamins A, D, B12, and choline being especially abundant.
Teasing your tastebuds with oatmeal...Oatmeal is an excellent source of fiber, particularly the soluble fiber beta-glucan, which can help lower cholesterol and maintain blood sugar levels.
Teasing your tastebuds with cinnamon...Cinnamon's benefits include its potential to help regulate blood sugar, improve heart health by lowering cholesterol and triglycerides, and reduce inflammation due to its antioxidant properties.