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A resource any dedicated DiY'er would get good use out of: The Flavor Thesaurus (more in comments)
submitted almost 10 years ago by ilikeycoffeeExtractor
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6 points
 
by ilikeycoffeealmost 10 years agoExtractor

I've owned this book for almost 5 years now, and it's one of my most valuable resources when it comes to understanding how flavours work with each other from major food items. It also gives me ideas for matching different flavours. It's not entirely comprehensive, as it focuses on only about 100 major food and beverage items (strawberries, peas, cabbage, vanilla etc etc.

It's also showing good benefits in DiY ejuice making, when trying to come up with original recipes; it gives me ideas on what flavours go with what, and gives me some great background on the principle 100 flavours it focuses on.

The book is called The Flavor Thesaurus, and it's around $20 on Amazon.

Sidenote: I know there's links posted here for a whole bunch of downloadable PDF and .epub books on flavour (all copyrighted material, making the downloads illegal btw!). A lot of the books are scholarly books that would cost you $150, $200 to buy a physical copy of, so I do understand the leaning towards just downloading a pirated copy.

But when flavour books are in the $10-$30 range, we really should be buying the real deal and making sure the authors get compensated for their hard work and their sharing of knowledge. I hope no one posts a PDF or link to a pirated downloadable copy of this book. It's well written, heavily researched, and the author deserves compensation should you read and make use of this book.

7 points
 
by trecentersalmost 10 years ago

I only pirate Taylor Swift Albums, don't worry.

Also, Thanks for the info.

2 points
 
by skiddlzninjaalmost 10 years agoFrugivore

The Flavor Encyclopedia is also really big in the community.

5 points
 
by Devo9090almost 10 years agoFrugivore

I found this list surprisingly helpful.

2 points
 
by ilikeycoffeealmost 10 years agoExtractor

That is a good list, but what makes the book I posted better is it provides a lot of context, and real life examples of how the various parings work. For instance, when it talks about pairing ginger with lime, it goes into detail about a specific cocktail made famous by that pairing.

I always find examples, anecdotes and real life recipes help people visualise and conceptualise about flavours more.

1 points
 
by Devo9090almost 10 years agoFrugivore

I can definitely appreciate that ;)

2 points
 
by bolodooralmost 10 years ago

"Sage pears well with: apples,"

hurt my brain

2 points
 
by pqgbdalmost 10 years ago

I have this book. Not much of a cook or a flavour guru (yet) but, I love perusing this book. Highly recommend getting a physical copy. It is such a treat!

1 points
 
by brohemithalmost 10 years ago

The one thing I don't like about this book is the few passages where the author pretty much just rambles, but it's still one of my favorites regardless.

1 points
 
by simletalmost 10 years ago

Thanks for the suggestion, I just bought it on Amazon.

0 points
 
by johnstone1690almost 10 years ago

Hope you have a scanner ... awaiting pdf

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