Recommended Reading: The Forgotten Sense by Jonas Olofsson

Interview with scientist Jonas Olofsson, author of The Forgotten Sense

There are many things one can say about The Forgotten Sense: The New Science of Smell—and the Extraordinary Power of the Nose by Jonas Olofsson. Exemplary is the first word that comes to mind as books written by academics don't always resonate with the public; no matter how remotely curious readers are about a particular subject, or how devoted the author is to sharing the latest information about a subject they deeply care about that resonates with others. 

Olofsson cares about the sense of smell and how smell loss has and continues to have an effect on patients who didn't find the support they needed when COVID-19 anosmia took hold in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. It's why he wrote the book, but there's more. Smell loss isn't new, but the number of people suffering from anosmia (whether they've recovered or not) is more widely acknowledged due to the pandemic and ensuing variants. It's a silver lining.

This silver lining is entwined with the fact that Olofsson has interest and compassion in amounts that exceed the boundaries of his native Sweden. This is reflected in the book's contents and the informed, conversational tone of the book, which draws the reader in like a good friend. The author bridges research (psychology, neurology and other disciplines) while bringing the reader up to date with regard to what is known about the sense of smell as it relates to health, quality of life and society.

I purchased The Forgotten Sense shortly after it was released in January 2025 (and plan on reading it again after I finish Sun City by Tove Jansson). The reason for the re-read is that books like The Forgotten Sense are rare when it comes to non-fiction books about the sense of smell, and that's as good a reason as any to recommend it on Glass Petal Smoke. Attendees at Smell & Tell: Get Inside Your Olfactory Mind will learn more about The Forgotten Sense at the Ann Arbor District Library on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, where I'll also introduce an analog smelling device called the Smell Rolodex. Ah, smell life...

Notes & Curiosities:

I discovered the video that accompanies this post after finishing The Forgotten Sense. It's a great way to get acquainted with the author, his research and the book. To learn more about Jonas Olofsson's research, visit Google Scholar and the website for the Sensory Cognition Interactive Laboratory, where Olofsson is Principal Investigator.

Are you a non-scientist that wants to master reading articles in scientific journals? The best way to engage with journal articles is to use naiveté as fuel for critical thinking. "How to Make Sense of a Scientific Journal Article" is an interactive tool that lists the components of a science journal article and explains their function/purpose. Simply click on each component (Overview/Abstract and Main Sections, Methods, Results, Discussion/Conclusion, and References) and scroll down to read the contents and learn more. This resource is part of the Know the Science initiative. 

Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau
via Encyclopedia Britannica

An informal, but effective approach to reading articles in scientific journals is a little something I cooked up called Clouseau It!, an homage to Peter Sellers in his role as Inspector Clouseau in Pink Panther films. Apply the following seven steps once you're comfortable reading articles in scientific journals:

Step 1: Investigate the Paper 

Step 2: Interrogate the Study

Step 3: Treat the Paper Like a Suspect

Step 4: Question the Method Used by Researchers 

Step 5: Confirm the Motives Based on Funding 

            (Conflict of Interest)

Step 6: Evaluate the Outcome in Relationship to the 

            Conclusion

Step 7: Look out for Cato Fong

Anatomy of a Tic Tac Orange Mint

The orange flavor of Tic Tac Orange Mints unfolds like the experience of eating an orange out of hand. Flavor chemists want you to think of the real thing even if the candy doesn't have the same form factor as orange fruit. The result? Candy plays pretend, and our brain consciously plays right along with it because candy tastes good, inspires memories and is fun to eat.

Mass-produced candy ensures a specific eating experience every time and that's by design. Candy is a form of comfort and reward across cultures. When you eat candy, you expect it to taste exactly like you remember it. The everyday chaos of adult life is sublimated by candy's constancy. Add a few childhood memories and it's easy to get hooked on candy when you’re decades past being a kid.

The flavor chemistry in Tic Tac Orange Mints is an industry secret, but if you read the ingredient list you can do a bit of flavor sleuthing and decode what you sense, but can't see. Orange Tic Tacs contain: sugar, maltodextrin, tartaric acid, natural and artificial flavors, rice starch, gum arabic, magnesium stearate, ascorbic acid, Yellow 6 and carnauba wax. So, what does this mean? A sweet and sour profile at a quick glance, but there's more.

The first ingredient is sugar (sucrose) and that means sugar is used in the greatest quantity compared to ingredients that follow it on the ingredient list. Sugar is followed by maltodextrin, a polysaccharide that improves texture, taste and shelf life. Maltodextrin isn't sweet on its own. Amylase, an enzyme found in saliva, breaks down maltodextrin, which is absorbed by the body as glucose.  

The next ingredient, tartaric acid, is found in grapes, bananas, tamarind, citrus fruits and wine. Tartaric acid's salt is potassium bitartrate, aka cream of tartar, which can be mixed with sodium bicarbonate to make baking powder. Congratulations! You've entered the realm of food science by investigating a candy ingredient list. 

Pour yourself a glass of wine and congratulate yourself as you toast the wonders of tartaric acid! You've graduated from Sweet Tarts, Fun Dip and Smarties Candy Necklaces, all of which include a combination of malic acid and tartaric acid to create delightful puckering effects that turned you into a candy lover in the first place.

Natural and artificial flavors cited in the ingredient list for Tic Tac Orange Mints are just that. Specific molecular constituents used to shape the candy's unique taste and flavor are akin to a family recipe for pasta sauce. Family members who know the recipe pass it down from one generation to the next. In the food industry, proprietary knowledge and trade secrets are protected by legal and binding non-disclosure agreements. You don’t share them with anyone (it’s a “take-it-to-the-grave” kind of thing).

Ingredients used to flavor candy are natural, "nature-identical", and/or synthetic. Chemical compounds and single molecules that scream "oranges" and those that support the chemistry of orange flavor define a Tic Tac "orange" experience. An example of a supporting ingredient in orange flavor would be a material with a zesty green aroma associated with orange peel.

Gum arabic is ubiquitous as far as food applications go. It’s added to confectionary glazes and is also used as a probiotic. Rice starch smoothes the surface of candy coatings and has additional applications as well. Magnesium stearate, on the other hand, prevents ingredients from sticking to mechanical equipment in the manufacturing process. It's commonly used as a lubricant for tablets. 

Ascorbic acid is also on the Tic Tac Orange Mints ingredient list. You may recognize it if you've read the ingredients label on a bottle of vitamins because ascorbic acid is another name for vitamin C. This doesn't mean that Tic Tac Orange Mints are vitamins, so you can't use this fact to make candy guilt go away or use Tic Tac Orange Mints to raise Linus Pauling from the dead.

Yellow 6 is also known as "sunset yellow" in the language of artificial food colors. Artificial colors are shelf stable (they don't lose their color quickly over time and under the proper storing conditions). This could change as companies like Kalsec, which specializes in natural food color technology, offer stable natural color alternatives.

It's interesting to note that Orange Tic Tac Mints sold outside the U.S. are colorless (they're white) due to rules and regulations related to artificial food coloring. In Canada, for instance, Tic Tac Orange Mints are packed in a plastic container that's tinted orange to signal flavor expectations in the absence of Yellow 6 food coloring.

Carnauba wax (Copernicia cerifera) is the last ingredient in Orange Tic Tac Mints and it's typically used as a coating or glazing ingredient. It's also one of the first ingredients you'll encounter in a store-bought orange (before you get to the cash register where Tic Tacs galore are staring you in the face). Carnauba wax is used in a proprietary form of artificial fruit wax that coats and protects fruit that's packaged and shipped to grocery stores. 

Now that you know the story behind the ingredients in Orange Tic Tac Mints, it's time to do a little sensory evaluation on your own. The experience will tell you a lot about what flavorists do without saying a word. To get the most out of this or any other tasting exercise, make sure you take your time.

If you do the exercise quickly, you'll miss important flavor transitions that define signature candy tasting experiences. Bear in mind that flavor is defined as the intersection between taste and smell. If you are rushing or distracted, you risk having a one-dimensional experience that’s mostly focused on taste (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory).

Go somewhere where you can taste the candy without distraction. The experience goes beyond "sweet, sour, done, now give me another one". Pop a single orange Tic Tac in your mouth and savor it, noticing the sequence of sensations from beginning to end. Do this twice. Once for the ah-ha moment(s) and a second time to embed the experience in your brain as a reference point for future candy tastings. Writing down sensory impressions after the second tasting is a good idea.

Sensory evaluation requires focusing on sensations and memories inspired by the tasting experience. Imagine what chemistry class would’ve been like if sensory evaluation exercises were included in the curriculum. You wouldn't be reading this. You'd be a flavorist working at a lab bench creating flavors for candy. 

Mindfully tasting Tic Tac Orange Mints is akin to a candy-version of an orange from a flavor perspective. A sense of ephemerality sets in when you’re finished, but you can always taste another candy. Is eating orange fruit better than eating candy? Yes, but if you’re hankering for the perfect portion-controlled sweet, candy allows you to connect with flavor and memories, and there’s nothing wrong with that if you indulge in moderation.

Notes & Curiosities: 

 The acid in citrus fruit causes the mouth to water. The same response occurs when 

  you eat something that smells appetizing and tastes delicious. Common descriptors

   for orange fruit flavor are: acidic, citrusy, fragrant, fruity, sweet, tangy and zesty

Tic Tac Orange Mints were launched by Ferrero in 1974. The original Tic Tac mint was called "Refreshing Mints" in 1969 and was changed to "Tic Tac Fresh Mint" in 1970. 

Tic Tacs have nothing to do with the paper and pencil game called tic-tac-toe that's played in a three-by-three grid with "x" and "o" marks. The sound made by the candy as it rattles in the container inspired Tic Tac's onomatopoetic name.  

There is no mint flavor in Tic Tac Orange Mints (though there's a green nuance that is more leafy than minty that shows up in the first half of the tasting experience). The term “mint” is used as an indicator of something a person eats for refreshment and/or mint-flavored mints.

Mindfully eating Tic Tac Orange Mints can be included in chemistry curriculum so that students grow up to be adults with a métier in flavor science.  More information on becoming a flavorist (and/or flavor chemist) is available from the Society of Flavor Chemists. 

If you're curious about the flavor industry read The Flavor Industry: From 1945-1995. This link takes you to the PDF download on the Society of Flavor Chemists website. The publication was put together by the American Sources Association on behalf of the Society of Flavor Chemists. 

Reading This? You Might Be WEIRD

Untitled Image by Joe Brainard (1942-1994)

“If I’m as normal as I think I am, we’re all a bunch of weirdos.”—Joe Brainard, artist, poet and writer 

I finished reading a research paper that included children's evaluations of 17 hedonic scents. The authors, 28 in number, included the acronym "WEIRD" as a phenotype (an individual's observable traits) vs. a genotype (genetic constitution). If you're reading this, chances are you're WEIRD, but not in the way that you think. 

WEIRD as referenced in the 2022 study sounds a little sci-fi when extracted, but it explains a few things when considered in context:

...children from urban areas of the WEIRD world (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) were examined. In such cultures, the olfactory and dietary experience of children may be convergent (e.g. consumption of similar products, similar perfumes worn) and similarly influence chemosensory perception. 

The term WEIRD was called out in 2010 by the American Psychology Association. The danger, according to the APA, occurs if focusing on WEIRD citizenry in a study generalizes results to a global population inclusive of the non-WEIRD to whom the results don’t apply. Translation? Exclusion by inclusion.

So, there you have it. If you're reading this, you might live in a WEIRD society as a WEIRD citizen. Define yourself as a flavor and fragrance enthusiast that’s not part of the WEIRD cohort or frankly don’t give a damn? Congratulations! You’ve been touched by an invisible magic wand that makes you "you". This quality brought you here in the first place. That makes you the best kind of weird there is.

Window by Jane Freilicher (2009). There's a sublime quality to
the painting, including two figures drawn to the aroma of flowers.

Notes/Further Reading:

The odorants used in "Hedonic Perception of Odors in Children Aged 5 to 8 Years is Similar Across 18 Countries: Preliminary Data" include: apple, banana, cheese, butter, chocolate, biscuit, coffee, cut grass, fish, flower, honey, lemon, onion, orange, peach, strawberry and tomato. Countries categorized as WEIRD in the study are: Canada, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States. 

Glass Petal Smoke highly recommends The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard, edited by Ron Padgett. Joe Brainard's style of memoir writing in the "I Remember" chapter poetically strings together everyday snippets of memory. Warning: Side effects include repeated re-reading of the "I Remember" chapter, uncontrolled urges to dog-ear pages in the book resulting in lilliputian origami, and finding Marcel Proust's madeleine less than compelling.

Boise State University has a sensible response to the WEIRD acronym as it applies to WEIRD societies and non-WEIRD societies. It's a fair and balanced response to a homonymic academic acronym. 

This story was not designed to interfere with machine learning programs, though it would be great fun if the “weird” WEIRD stumped more than a handful of programs. That, my friends, would be art.

Baking with Flavor: Recipe for Semolina Spice Cake

The crumb structure in Semolina Spice Cake resembles tiny interlaced flowers. Zoom into the image and see if you can find a few cakey flower heads. The center of the these crumbs looks like a circle of air—just like the flowers on the dessert plate.

Semolina cake soaked in sweet syrup tastes divine, but an equally delicious and less sugary alternative exists. A pastry base that accommodates complementary spice mixtures, in combination with flavor extracts and citrus zest, gets the job done. Want to know a secret? You don't have to be a professional pastry chef to master baking with flavor.

The building blocks for the structure of a healthy and tasty semolina cake are: semolina flour, coconut sugar, lowfat yogurt, eggs, all-purpose flour, vegetable oil, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt. Extracts, citrus zest and warm spice mixtures shape flavor. This is where you can be fearlessly creative and try something new.

The more you bake the more you understand the character of ingredients separately and in combination. This builds confidence and an unquantifiable aspect—a baker's personal essence. Have you ever tasted a cookie baked by two different people using the same recipe and noticed they were similar yet distinct? You can taste the je ne sais quoi.

Baking with flavor happens when you immerse all of your senses in the process. Focus on what you see, smell, touch, hear and taste along the way. Semolina Spice Cake is delicious and inspiring to make. Be sure to share the recipe with friends and family so they can put their own spin on a healthy cake that quickly disappears after it's made.

Semolina Spice Cake
Recipe by Michelle Krell Kydd
Serves nine people

Ingredients

• 1 cup semolina flour 
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
• ½ cup coconut sugar 
• 1½ cup of plain 1% fat yogurt (nonfat is fine)
• 1 medium organic lemon (zest only)
• ½ cup neutral vegetable with a high smoke point (avocado oil or canola)
• 3 large eggs at room temperature 
• 1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon Hashems Ka’ak Spice
• ½ teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• ½ teaspoon sea salt 

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
• Prep an 8x8 non-stick baking pan with vegetable oil and set aside. 
• Combine the lemon zest and yogurt in a bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes. 
• Measure and combine semolina flour, all-purpose flour, Ka’ak Spice, baking soda and sea salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix everything together using a silicone spatula. 
• Beat eggs and vanilla in a medium sized mixing bowl using a fork. Add coconut sugar and combine until the sugar is completely dissolved. 
• Add vegetable oil and lemon infused yogurt to the egg mixture and incorporate using a silicone spatula. 
• Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth (no lumps).
• Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Test for doneness by using a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan (it's done when the toothpick comes out clean). 
• Allow the cake to cool for 30 minutes. 
• Slice into nine pieces using two vertical and two horizontal cuts. 
• Serve with a side of maple syrup sweetened yogurt (the same yogurt you used to make the cake) or a pair of Medjool dates and fresh walnuts. 
• Store the cake in a sealed container in the refrigerator. This cake also freezes well.

Notes:

This recipe can be modified with your favorite warm spice blend. Chinese Five Spice, Gingerbread Spice, Apple Pie Spice, Pumpkin Pie Spice, etc. These require less than 1 tbsp+ 1 tsp of your spice blend of choice. Use 1 tbsp and refrigerate the cake for 24 hours. Citrus zest isn’t necessary, though a tablespoon of orange zest would be nice with Gingerbread Spice as this would resemble lebkuchen.

Ka’ak Spice Mix contains anise, cloves, cinnamon, mahlab, sesame seeds and black caraway. Grind the spice mix in a coffee grinder to ensure uniform texture and release flavor if the blend appears slightly coarse or has whole seeds in it.

The anise in Ka’ak Spice Mix has a sweet aftertaste so this spice mix is ideal for flavoring semolina cake that doesn't require the addition of sugar syrup. Extra vanilla extract in the recipe balances the anise so the overall effect is cakey. (The combination of anise, vanilla and lemon smells like bakeries I remember from childhood).

Oil-based semolina cakes are moist and have a spongier quality of density than cakes made with unbleached all-purpose flour (you can see it in the structure and separation of the crumb). The way semolina cake melts in the mouth increases retronasal olfaction (the intersection of smell and taste that produces flavor at the back of the mouth). Pour a tablespoon of warm maple syrup over a freshly baked slice and take a bite. Notice the mouthfeel (texture) and how this shapes flavor perception.

Feel free to try other warm spice mixtures (e.g. gingerbread, pumpkin pie, apple pie) and experimenting with complementary citrus flavors and extracts. Floral waters like rosewater and orange blossom water can be used like extracts. The possibilities are endless.

Glass Petal Smoke developed a cookie recipe using Hashems Ka'ak Spice. You can find it here. 

COVID-19 & Smell Loss: The Case for Critical Thinking

Sniffing out the truth regarding smell loss requires critical thinking.

When we skim the surface of a news story we risk indifference to the facts. Goldman Sachs allegedly believes that a post-peak reduction in "loss of smell" inquiries on Google Search is "a positive sign for the pandemic" (language embedded in CNBC's hyperlink to the news story). Is this a fact, opinion or clickbait? You need to be a critical thinking ninja to figure it out.

Smell loss and the return of the sense of smell is not a linear process independent of COVID-19 infection. Dr. Eric Holbrook's description in the Harvard Health Blog clarifies this in a pre-COVID-19 perspective of the world as it relates to smell loss:

In some cases, the loss of smell is complete (anosmia), while in other cases there is only a partial loss (hyposmia). In many instances where smell loss occurs, remaining smells are distorted. The distortions are either experienced as odors smelling dramatically different from what was remembered (parosmia) or smelling an odor that isn’t present (phantosmia).                                                      —"Smell Disorders: When Your Sense of Smell Goes Astray," (December 12, 2018)

The first disconnect in "Goldman Says Fewer ‘Loss of Smell’ Google Queries Suggest Better COVID Outlook" is the image used in the article. The caption reads, “A woman wearing a face mask smells flower blossoms.” Let’s put a pandemic perspective on the image because what the caption says and what appears in the picture are slightly different.

A woman wearing a non-medical protective face mask has drawn her mask below her nostrils so she can smell cherry blossoms. The woman will have to touch her face a second time to pull the mask over her nose so it can protect her (assuming it wasn't contaminated the first time she moved it below her nostrils).

Critical thinking begins when we question our perceptions.

Were there other people who smelled the same cherry blossoms before her? Will there be others afterwards? What does that means regarding potential virus transfer? Was the image taken during the pandemic? If it was, where was the photographer? The image that accompanies the article doesn't follow COVID-19 protocol. Strike one.

The picture gets your attention for the wrong reason. It riffs on the desire for post-pandemic normality. This may fuel irrational forecasts on lifting quarantines before science says it's the right time because of the way the picture looks. Strike two.

Let’s revisit the prediction of an organization asserting an opinion that isn't based on the relationship between COVID-19 and smell loss in a controlled study (e.g. the use of Google Trends). It's important to note that CNBC emphasizes this opinion more than Jon Hatzius of Goldman Sachs does when you watch the video embedded in the article.

Goldman Sachs is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Is their intention to report news or promote data that encourages investor confidence because it supports their business model? This is the kind of question a critical thinking ninja asks (a recent article on Poynter calls it "growing a third nostril" to sniff out the truth).

Wake up and smell the facts, including opinions masquerading as facts.

Goldman Sachs used one phrase (loss of smell) to generate an outcome on Google Trends. Anyone can use this tool, which provides results based on the country in which a query is made. Anosmia, hyposmia, parosmia and phantosmia aren’t included in the analysis and there are additional words and phrases that can be used to gather results regarding smell loss.

Smell training, which supports patients with smell loss, isn't even investigated and it's an approach supported by scientific research that helps patients with smell loss (lemon, rose, clove and eucalyptus essential oil are commonly used, which is informed by research). That's not a surprise because most of the population knows little about smell and taste disorders and what it's like for patients.

The article referenced in this post appears on CNBC, which is a news source specializing in financial markets. The deduction made by Goldman Sachs doesn’t include expert opinions from scientists as well and multiple points of view. There's nothing “fair and balanced" about it. Strike three (you can S-M-E-L-L it).

Critical thinking is important. It applies to opinions you agree and disagree with when chasing down facts to create an informed opinion. If you believe that people who don't think the way you do are ignorant, check yourself because the ultimate in ignorance is the inability to respectfully weigh facts and opinions. It's how you lie to yourself and others because of what you want to believe. There's another word for this and it's denial. Denial is also a stage of grief and grief is a collective experience during a pandemic like COVID-19.

These are difficult and highly emotional times for everyone. It's tempting to create divisiveness based on personal opinion or that of your pack, but searching for truth and call out misleading statements in your own head helps manage the effects of the pandemic on physical and mental health—your own and that of family, friends and your community. There will be PTSD echo effects when the pandemic is under control and when a cure for COVID-19 is found. The time to build better habits that support clear thinking and common humanity is now.

Smell the May roses at a distance with gratitude and a face mask.

Think before, during after interacting with media. Most importantly, think before you speak (or in the case of the CNBC article, publish a story). Practice being a critical thinking ninja on a daily basis. If you're one of the lucky ones who survive the first cycle of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, you might smell the roses in May. Just remember to catch the scent of roses in the breeze and keep your protective face mask on as required.

Notes:
Some people who contract COVID-19 and become anosmic say they can't taste (ageusia). They may be misarticulating their symptoms without knowing it. I've come across this in off-the-record interviews with people who've had mild symptoms of COVID-19 that presented with smell loss. I am continuing to investigate this.

Smell + Taste = Flavor and we often refer to flavor as taste (e.g. "that tastes delicious"). Taste is sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (savory) as well as trigeminal sensations for temperature, texture and spiciness.

If we want to understand patients who lose their sense of smell and/or taste because of COVID-19 we have to go below the surface of what they're saying and ask clarifying questions. This is a doctor's job, but it's also a scientist's job and it's why medical professionals and scientists need to be included in articles that reference medical conditions.

Sensory Training: Making Friends with Devil's Dung

Opening a container of asafoetida (Ferula asafoetida) will clear out a room. The ground gum oleoresin, which is used as a spice, has a nose wrinkling smell that resembles mercaptan, the rotten cabbage-like odorant used to scent natural gas. Mercaptan and asafoetida contain sulfur compounds associated with decomposition, so why would anyone want to make friends with a spice that's earned the nickname "Devil's Dung"?

Asafoetida is an alliaceous substitute for onions and garlic in Jain cooking. It's also used as an umami flavor enhancer in Indian cuisine and acts as an antiflatulent, which is ironic when one considers how asafoetida smells before it mellows during the cooking process. 

There are aesthetically pleasant things one can study when training their sense of smell, but asafoetida is one of the best because it's a catalyst for discovery when confronting sensory bias. Humans are hardwired to escape dangerous smells, but not all unpleasant smells are dangerous. The challenge in sensory evaluation, inclusive of taste and smell, is the fact that most of us would rather experience something we like and avoid anything we find unpleasant.

When you're going through sensory training you learn to let go of personal preferences and aversions. The goal isn't to become objective because sensory perception is subjective. You learn to become more evaluative in sensory training, which is to say that you assess something for its character—whether you like it or not.

Smelling tincture of asafoetida as it evaporates on a perfume blotter is a revelation. The hellish brimstone odor is transformed as sulfur compounds evaporate and sweet balsamic notes redolent of vanilla emerge in the drydown. The heavenly transformation is striking, counterintuitive and unforgettable. 

Making friends with Devil's Dung (asafoetida) is a catalyst for self-discovery and a great way to conquer sensory bias. It teaches us that something we find unappealing can become a gateway for beauty over time. That's something worth lingering over.

Notes:

Sulfur compounds aren't found in the non-volatile constituents of asafoetida—they're only present in the essential oil. Once the sulfur evaporates from the oil other constituents such as vanillin and ferulic acid in ester form (the later related to ferulaldehyde found in maple syrup) can be detected. Ferulic acid is also related to isoeugenol (found in clove and other plants) and vanillin (found in vanilla). You don't have to be a chemist to recognize the inter-relational quality in plant volatiles on a molecular level. You can smell it.

To make an asafoetida tincture for smelling combine 1.42 grams (1/4 teaspoon) of asafoetida with 4ml of ethanol (high proof vodka) in a 5ml amber glass vial. Keep the tincture in a cool dark place and allow to age for one month. Shake the tincture daily during maceration.

Asafoetida resin sold in spice shops is ground into a powder with gum arabic and neutral materials such as wheat or rice flour. Turmeric is sometimes added to boost health benefits of asafoetida.

I'll be sharing tincture of asafoetida at The Storytelling Secrets of Optimus Yarnspinner, a Smell & Tell program that takes place tonight at the Ann Arbor District Library (downtown branch), from 6:30-8:45pm. This unique Smell & Tell focuses on an apothecary cabinet of inspirational smells that belongs to Optimus Yarnspinner, a beloved character in the Zamonia series of books by German author Walter Moers.

Spoiler Alert: Yarnspinner uses asafoetida when he's writing horror stories. The German word for asafoetida is stinkasant. Right up there with Devil's Dung.

You are Proust: The Case for Developing Your Olfactory Mind

The proverbial Proustian moment isn’t limited to the nostalgic reveries of a madeleine loving protagonist. Flashes of autobiographical memory inspired by taste and smell reflect a rich life-affirming aspect of human experience. These moments make for worshipful excerpts in literature because the sense of smell and its handmaiden flavor are not easy to describe. Real life encounters with Proustian moments are not only possible, they are more likely to occur if you take the time to develop your olfactory mind. We can't keep talking about Proust; he's dead, the madeleine he ate is lost to an ever-changing ecosystem, and the pastry described in In Search of Lost Time may have been a piece of dry toast. 

Autobiographical memory inspired by taste and smell reflects an extended pattern of experience that builds on itself. It is shares the characteristics of replicating patterns of self-similarity one finds in fractal images; parts of the whole appear the same from near or far (consider time as a continuum and you get the picture). Flashbacks inspired by taste and smell enter a person's consciousness when something in the present triggers a foundational memory. In this space, past and present merge altering time as we know it. This produces the closest approximation to time travel we can experience without pharmacopoeia or strict adherence to a spiritual lifestyle.

Memories inspired by taste and smell are exceedingly powerful when they reference childhood experience. Dr. Maria Larsson found that children ages 8-10 form foundational olfactory impressions that last a lifetime. I've observed these types of olfactory memories being made in classroom settings at 826Michigan where I teach a series of Smell and Tell classes designed to improve expository writing skills. Discovery shapes this period of childhood development as it is a time when kids delight in self awareness, as well as differentiation from parents and younger siblings. They are less influenced by peer pressure than their tween counterparts, who are more concerned with fitting in and defining themselves by group affiliation. 

Smell is the passport to one's "self" enriched by a grounded sense of identity against the canvas of sensory experience. This is beautifully articulated by Jane Miller in the essay "Midnights." Miller focuses on the transporting effect of encountering the "new" with an emphasis on cultivating a state of presence that is integral to the transformative experience associated with travel:

"Wherever the traveler goes in a quest for beauty and knowledge, if the place responds like a peacock displaying its iridescence, we have the stuff legends are made of. Imagery explodes and creates a derangement of the senses. Those who have already gone and returned no longer remember it that way, or remember the place fondly or inexactly. But during the ritual visit itself, the unfamiliar and disoriented prevail, requiring that we notice things in their entirety, which we must do to "get anywhere" in the confrontation with the new. To see a thing entire is to see its other-worldliness, to see the stripes, fangs and the sausage-like intestines, working through the analogical possibilities to experience it ("it" is, by now, a monstrous thing).

Having given it our full attention, a meditation, what follows is often revelatory. The spirit of a place, a person, or a thing exchanges freely with the stranger's spirit..."                                                              Miller, Jane. "Midnights." Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore their Favorite Fairy Tales, edited by Kate Bernheimer, 236, New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2002.

Can Proustian moments be nurtured early in life? Cultivating an olfactory mind when receptivity is high provides an excellent springboard for this type of thinking. Children experience a multitude of “new” things because they are open to new experiences by virtue of their years. That feeds their sense of wonder, but there is a caveat; attachment to likes and dislikes must be surmounted to make room for an evaluative point of view that allows a person to see something in its entirety. There are no wrong answers when it comes to how a person experiences smell and taste. Evaluation is shaped by experience, culture, and emotion which are unique to each individual. The relief and "ah-ha" moment understanding provides to children and adults in a classroom setting encourages creativity and is subtly profound.

Proustian moments can be nurtured in adulthood despite the fact that smell loss is part of the aging process. Scientists have discovered that parts of the brain related to olfaction in perfumers are more highly developed; even in those who are 40+, (a time when the sense of smell starts to decline as part of the aging cycle). If you are light years from childhood there is no time like the present to exercise your olfactory mind. You may be surrounded by opportunities for a Proustian moment and not even know it. Glass Petal Smoke suggests that you follow these simple tips to get you started on your journey, with or without the mythical madeleine: 

• Experience something new every day and keep a written list of what you discover.
• Explore local foodways and seek out new flavors.
• Make a conscious effort to shift environments during the day as a variety of smellscapes outside your window/cubicle shape the context of sensory experience and provide reference points for new memories.
• Travel to places you have never visited before and indulge all of your senses.
• Smell everything you can; flowers, fruits, the ingredients you use to cook/bake, etc.
• Buy a good book about essential oils and curate a collection of favorites that you can smell repeatedly over time. 
• Explore mindfulness practice in your spiritual tradition and get in touch with being present.

Notes:
The Glass Petal Smoke "Sensory Questionnaire" is a tool you can use to get inside your olfactory mind. Learn how here. 

Explore ways that you can define a smell on this WikiHow.

*How important is childhood when it comes to smell and autobiographical memory?  Read "Smell Your Way Back to Childhood," by Dr. Maria Larsson and find out. Dr. Johan Willander’s "Autobiographical Odor Memory" digs deep on the subject across ages.

"Memories" illustration by Greg Abbott. Used with permission. You can visit Greg Abbott's online shop. Very cool stuff here. 

Rino is a little girl who eats dishes from around the world. Her parents have nurtured her olfactory mind beyond the madeleine, though the picture of her eating one is quite charming. Rino's YouTube channel was featured in a story in The Huffington Post. Image rights revert back to Rino and her family.

We lose our sense of smell as we age. It begins at age 40 and can increase dramatically once your reach 65. Developing your olfactory mind by practicing smell calisthenics is a good idea if you plan on enjoying your "golden" years.

Edith Frank and the Chemistry of Esters

Edith Frank was my high school chemistry teacher at The Bronx High School of Science. A taskmaster in the classroom with a fierce passion for science, Mrs. Frank enjoyed the choreography of molecules in reaction and would quickly point out words used in chemistry that described things in ordinary life such as the concept of a catalyst. Though I enjoyed the art of chemistry, I was resistant to its mathematical aspects. I would have preferred to study the life of Dmitri Mendeleev and the stories behind each element in his Periodic Table of Elements.

Mrs. Frank was patient, worldly and clever. Some students were prone to making jokes about her appearance as she wore an impeccably coiffed wig, had perfectly penciled eyebrows, and wore a distinctive red lipstick that screamed Chanel. Edith Frank reminded me of Betty Glassman, a widow who lived in my apartment building on 191st Street in the Bronx who wore Chanel No. 5 every day and had a singing chihuahua. Betty and Edith didn't look alike, but each had the sophisticated carriage of a grande dame that never heads for the exit door in memory.

What I remember most about Edith Frank was that she turned me on to chemistry when everything in my being resisted it. This transformation came when our class focused on the synthesis of fragrant esters in a lab session. Our task was to combine acetic acid and iso-Amyl Alcohol to make iso-Amyl Acetate; a banana ester used to create banana flavor in the food industry. Like Sharon Longert, my fifth grade teacher at P.S. 33 in the Bronx, Edith Frank nurtured my olfactory mind. Chemistry became magical when I could relate it to my sense of smell and taste.

If you google Edith Frank you'll find the mother of the acclaimed Holocaust diarist Anne Frank. Anne’s mother dominates the search algorithm because she’s searched more frequently than a retired chemistry teacher from The Bronx High School of Science. The utility of the Internet as a search vehicle, outside of access to birth/death records and obituaries, is trumped by serendipity when you search for information attached to a person. I had the good fortune of locating an essay, which features Edith Frank, in the Meadowood Anthology 1905-2011: Memories in Miniature.
 

Luise David was Edith Frank's neighbor and the two Upper West Side apartment dwellers became travel companions. David's essay, "How I Discovered Mt. Fuji One Morning", proves that Edith Frank's "worldliness" was not a byproduct of my imagination; at sixteen my writer's mind was able grasp the elements of her character more quickly than those which graced the molecules in Mendeleev's table.

I never heard about a "Mr. Frank" or any Frank children when I attended The Bronx High School of Science. David's essay does not venture into Mrs. Frank's private life and so these curiosities remain a mystery. I am grateful to have had Edith Frank as a chemistry teacher and hope that serendipity leads to more information about who she was outside the classroom.

Notes:
Luise David's essay, "How I Discovered Mt. Fuji One Morning", can be found on pages 43 and 44 of Meadowood Anthology 1905-2011: Memories in Miniature.

Esterification is a chemical process that takes place when wine undergoes aging. Some of wine's esters (up to 160 at last count) can be found on the "fruity" portion of the wine aroma wheel designed by Ann C. Noble. 

Purple Potato Pirate Pie

I have a confession to make; I'm related to William "Captain" Kidd by marriage. This fact has been a source of amusement for friends and new acquaintances, as well as polite assertions of innocence ("he was framed") by family members. It's a fact that intrigues me as much as the tale my Aunt Jean used to tell of my paternal great grandmother who was known for dispensing wisdom and arranging marriages in a small Polish town. 

Sometimes family stories have a way of getting into what you eat. Though I don't have recipes from my great grandmother (Edouard De Pomiane's "The Jews of Poland: Recollections and Recipes" might offer a clue) it's easy to find out what European pirates enjoyed as a result of their seafaring ways. Salamagundi—a hodgepodge of chopped meat, anchovies, onions, eggs, vinegar, oil and spices—is well known. Dessert is another story though honey cake seems to show up occasionally and makes sense when one thinks of honey's ability to preserve food when combined with spices.

The immediate thought that comes to mind for most people considering the foodways of pirates is what the scallywags drank. Rum was extremely popular, though beer, grog, sherry, brandy and port are other documented favorites. Since I am a Kydd by marriage (K"y"dd when the family moved from Scotland to England) and pirates were known to travel and trade in spices, I've decided to use dark rum, dark muscovado sugar and a spice mixture of my own creation to make a decadent sweet potato pie. Though my connection to Captain Kidd is tenuous at best, I think he'd enjoy the rich color of the Stokes Purple Sweet Potato and relish each bite as he would his treasured drink.

Purple Potato Pirate Pie

Recipe by Michelle Krell Kydd

Yield: Two Pies

Ingredients:

·      4 cups Stokes® Purple Sweet Potatoes (baked, cooled and mashed with a ricer)

·      1 cup India Tree® Dark Muscovado Sugar (firmly packed, can use brown sugar if not available)

·      1 cup light coconut milk

·      4 tbsp. dark rum*

·      2 tsp. Mexican vanilla extract

·      4 large omega-3 eggs

·      4 tbsp. cornstarch

·      2 tsp. ground China cassia cinnamon

·      1 tsp. ground ginger

·      1 tsp. ground mace

·      ½ tsp. ground allspice

·      ½ tsp. ground cloves

·      1 tsp. non-iodized sea salt

·      (2) Arrowhead Mills® prepared 9-inch Graham Cracker Pie Crust

Instructions:

Preparing the Potatoes

·      The day before you make the pie prepare 5 medium Stokes® Purple Sweet Potatoes for baking.

·      Preheat oven to 400F.

·      Gently rinse each potato using your fingers to rub off any surface dirt. Pat potatoes dry with a paper towel and check the potatoes to make sure they aren’t bruised, (if they are cut out what can’t be used and discard).

·      Using the tines of a fork poke holes in the surface of the potato. Wrap in aluminum foil with the poked side facing up. This will allow air to escape and prevent the potato from bursting in the oven.

·      Bake for 50-60 minutes at 400 degrees. When done, open the foil carefully (the purple juice can stain clothing and hands) and allow each potato to cool before re-wrapping and placing in the refrigerator overnight.

Preparing the Pies

·      Preheat oven to 325F.

·      Remove the skins from the potatoes and cut into half inch slices. Fill a potato ricer to the half point and mash the potatoes through the ricer, putting pressure on the ends of the handles for maximum efficiency. Repeat until you can fill your mixing bowl with four cups of mashed potatoes.

·      In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, dark rum, vanilla, and light coconut milk.  Add dark muscovado sugar and mix well.

·      In a small bowl sift China cassia cinnamon, ginger, mace, allspice and cloves. Add salt and cornstarch and mix thoroughly. Add the spice mixture to the wet mixture.

·      Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and incorporate.

·      Using a ladle fill two pie crusts with the sweet potato custard, smoothing the tops with the end of the ladle to ensure even baking.

·      Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

·      Cool on a rack for at least an hour.

·      Refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Serve with a dollop of non-fat whipped cream.

Notes:

The North Carolina farmers who grow the Stokes Purple Sweet Potato used to be tobacco farmers. Their story is an interesting one. The Stokes Purple contains high concentrations of the phytochemical anthocyanin and is a variety of sweet potato native to North Carolina. When you buy them you support good health and local farming practices. You can buy Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes at Whole Foods stores or you can purchase them online.

The best dark rum for Purple Potato Pirate Pie is one that has been used to soak raisins for pastry work. The resulting infusion contains the essence of dried fruit which adds flavor. You can make Glass Petal Smoke's Rum Raisin Scones and save the remaining dark rum for Purple Potato Pirate Pie (or Glass Petal Smoke's original Purple Sweet Potato Pie recipe).

Dark muscovado sugar has an intense aromatic bouquet. Unlike regular brown sugar (which has been washed, rinsed and colored) dark muscovado sugar retains all of the molasses and minerals present in sugar. This is immediately evident when you open up the bag and are greeted by a bouquet that includes notes of molasses, burnt caramel, coffee, oak, tobacco, cloves and chocolate. Dark muscovado sugar is the sugar of choice for making genuine rum hence its inclusion in this recipe.

Mexican Vanilla Extract is extraordinarily fragrant and high in vanillin (a naturally occurring molecule in vanilla bean responsible for its rich, creamy character). An eight ounce bottle costs $6.50 though you may want to buy a larger size to economize if you bake often. Certified Iranian Sargol Saffron available online. Glass Petal Smoke utilizes this spice in Gâteau Baiser De Safran (Saffron Kiss Cake).

Curious about the history of Captain William Kidd? Read "The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd," by  Richard Zacks. You can find an excerpt here.

September 19th is National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Talk Like a Pirate is the go-to site for fans of pirate history. It includes a Pirate-English generator.

The painting that accompanies this post is titled "Captain Kidd in New York Harbor".  It  was painted in 1920 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris.

The Magic of Smell and Taste

There are regular readers of Glass Petal Smoke and those who discover the blog by algothrimic happenstance. The most interesting email inquiries come from the later, who are “flavor and fragrance curious.” Something inside of them wakes up when they read about the power of smell and taste, and how deeply these two senses are tied to memory.

Once a person has opened up to their senses it's as if they’ve found a long lost friend, a companion that was always by their side, but until that point of discovery remained in the shadows. This new found awareness may prompt provocative questions insinuated by doubt, such as this one from the UK, “Are flavor and fragrance enthusiasts simply self-indulgent nostalgists?”

Appreciation of flavor and fragrance isn’t solely driven by a desire to go back in time; it’s more of a desire for return; return accompanied by present day knowledge and experience. The awareness that transpires as a result of sensorial discovery results in spiritual equilibrium, the fulcrum on which truth and mystery are perfectly balanced. Flavor and fragrance are a catalyst for sustenance and soul, the desire for reconciliation between the seen and unseen; it’s why Glass Petal Smoke exists.

When someone wears a perfume or tastes a delightful flavor for the first time, a part of them merges with everything the creator of that experience has encountered (perfumer or chef) up until the moment of that specific sensory creation. There is a synchrony that erases time as we know it, makes friends of strangers, linking life experiences into a greater eternal whole; a “collective sensory unconscious” that is deeply engaging. It is from this powerful source that myths, as well as true stories about scent and taste, spring forth.

Does this mean there aren’t any self-indulgent nostalgists lurking about? Absolutely not, but what it does mean is that the experience of scent and taste is a powerful force that can transcend the ordinary world as we know it. If we don’t become overly attached to the things we are attracted to or the things we wish to avoid, we can find inner peace in our common humanity; something the world can always use in large helpings.

Notes:

The image that accompanies this post is by Edmund Dulac and is titled "Stealers of Light." 

Developing Your Sense of Taste & Smell

As a "nose," I am often asked how one develops a vocabulary of the senses. There isn’t a simple answer to this question as describing what one smells or tastes is subjective. Every experience we have ties into another and each of us walks around with an internal compass with a particular set of reference points based on the people, places and things that have surrounded us. As each person searches for the right words, words that will add depth and meaning to their understanding, a collective tapestry of discovery is woven in which we are all inextricably linked.

This is particularly evident when an individual describes something we have encountered in a way that resonates with our personal experience of that very thing. We consider this person’s viewpoint and proceed in assessing their beliefs and notions as credible. Suspending judgment can be freeing, but it can also be a dangerous pit. When we rely solely on others to verify our perceptions, we are to a certain extent, allowing them to think and feel for us. Other people’s assessments are simply orientations. There are no absolutes in the world of the senses, which is why Proust could wax on about a single madeleine for paragraphs on end.

The perfect starting point for building an olfactive and gustatory vocabulary is observation. By paying attention to the sense of smell and taste, we begin to hone in on nuances which rely on instinct and memory, versus visual cues. In addition, the more we practice experiencing the world through taste and smell, the more skilled we become in reading people, environments and situations. This is because in doing so, we are reawakening primal skills that existed before mankind walked upright, when we could literally smell danger in food unfit for consumption or the pending arrival of a voracious animal. (One could say that modern women continue to execute this ability rather skillfully in the mating game.)

A perfect place to begin developing your sensory observation skills is the pantry. If you are a coffee lover, order a variety of regional beans in assorted roasts from a coffee shop that has relationships with growers and supports fair trade. If you are a chocolate lover, experiment with different percentages of cocoa content and regional varietals. If you are an herb or spice lover, download a free catalog from Penzy’s Spices and read it from cover to cover. Each entry in the catalog describes herbs and spices in detail and you can order in small amounts and sample flavors which befit your palate.

Should you have a touch of the mad scientist living inside you, or are particularly fond of detail, there is a link on Eblong that contains industry flavor wheels (tools which categorically organize taste families and descriptors) for beer, wine, coffee, chocolate and maple syrup. As you conduct each tasting, write down your flavor impressions and follow-up by checking them against the flavor wheel. You may want to keep a special notebook handy for your notes, so you may return to them for future comparison. Sensory experiences are deeply tied to memory and you will learn as much about yourself as the things you taste—which is why bringing a special friend along for the ride isn’t such a bad idea…

Helpful Links:

Please note that any recommendations that appear on GlassPetalSmoke are based on the editor’s tastes and preferences, which are unsolicited.
For Guittard’s single origin tasting kit, visit Chocosphere.

For coffee beans, order from The Roasterie in Kansas City.

For spices, visit a local Penzys Spices or download their catalog on the web.

For flavor wheels, visit Eblong.

Photo of perfumer Yann Vasnier courtesy of the perfumer. Vasnier was interviewed by Michelle Krell Kydd in February, for the fragrance website Bois de Jasmin. The article is entitled "Kouign Aman: The Breakfast of Perfumers." Mr. Vasnier is a native of Brittany.