London – It’s often saved for the most special occasions, but using the family silver might not be the best idea if you want to enjoy your meal.
Despite centuries of tradition, scientists have concluded that fine cutlery can make certain types of food taste unpleasant.
Stainless steel, which in most households is reserved for day-to-day eating, performed better than silver in a series of taste tests.
But for the very best culinary experience, cutlery should be made of gold, the researchers found.
Dr Zoe Laughlin, of University College London’s Institute of Making, tested spoons made of seven materials – gold, silver, stainless steel, zinc, copper, tin and chrome.
A group of 50 volunteers were asked to suck each spoon and rate its taste.
The test was then repeated with different foodstuffs to see how the metal combined with sweet, salty and acidic flavours.
Dr Laughlin said: ‘Gold was the tastiest. It is the most inert material, so it doesn’t really influence the food. Whether it was by itself or with food, gold performed the best.
‘It has no metallic taste at all. This is eating as it should be – you just taste the flavour of the food and nothing else.’
She added: ‘Silver is not very tasty – it is not very pleasant at all... it is very metallic. It also reacts badly with the acid in fruit and the sulphur in eggs.
‘Stainless steel is pretty good – out of all materials we looked at, stainless steel was the second-best cutlery. But you haven’t lived until you have eaten with gold.’
Her team also found that copper and zinc spoons performed well when paired with sweet desserts. Although the volunteers reported that the metals tasted very bitter by themselves, when combined with sugary flavours in the mouth the contrast accentuated the sweetness of the food.
The research was unveiled during the launch of a new exhibition on human appetite at the Science Museum in London, designed in collaboration with TV chef Heston Blumenthal. It adds to a growing theory that it is not only the flavour of food that influences the way we experience taste.
Previous research by Oxford University academics found that a heavier glass makes a gin and tonic taste better, while a fine dining cloth will improve the flavour of a meal.
Daily Mail