How To Reduce Bitter Taste In Food?
By: Adam J.Gill
Tags: Coupon, Breakfast, Foodies, Healthy Foods, Food

While bitter food may be a healthy resort to quell cravings for sweet food, regulate your diet or protection against cancer and heart diseases, it may not always be what you asked for. Some food may carry an overwhelming sense of bitterness (try a coffee with a high amount of caffeine) which may be off-putting and make it less palatable.

Here are some hacks that can save your taste buds this bitter experience and turn it into a healthy alternative.

1. Add some fats

Here’s an easy way to save that coffee. Adding fats such as milk, cream, cheese, creamy sauce or olive oil (Check out the Big C Store to buy your grocery items at a discounted price!) not only gives a smooth texture to the food but also inherently reduces the bitter taste. It improves the consistency of the food and complements the bitterness rather than eliminating it. Similarly adding some cheese or cream cheese over bitter vegetables balances the taste and turns out to be the perfect combination of healthy and tasty!

2. Vinegar or lemon juice

Food components with citric acidic properties such as lemon or vinegar are known for their properties to cut through bitterness (and add a zing!) in the food. Squeezing half a lemon or a spoonful of vinegar should do the trick. It not merely neutralizes the extent of bitterness in the dish but also brings about the taste of bitter elements such as salads, kale or radishes.

3. Try freezing the food

Colder foods and beverages taste less bitter than dishes that are sizzling hot. If you have an alternative and the time to cool the food sometime before serving it, you can go with this choice. Beverages like cold coffee or iced tea (Check out the Big C Store for exclusive discounts on beverages!) carry this zeal of bitterness in a counterpoised manner and are hence pleasing to drink.

You can try this trick to make children eat salads and food which they resist because of the bitter taste. Store the salad in the fridge for half an hour and which reduces the bitterness and also gives it zeal.

4. Make it spicy!

Who doesn’t love a little extra spice in food? Not only does it enhance the flavour, but it can be used as an effective trick to lessen the bitterness of the cooked dish. For food where adding fat or cream may not be an option, you can simply add a few spices such as red pepper and a variation of other cooking powders (cayenne, black pepper or cardamom etc.) to enliven the taste buds with some fiery heat!

Adding herbs such as coriander, basil, ginger or rosemary is another way to counteract the bitterness since these spices distract the taste buds from bitter to the spicy zing of the food. While fresh herbs such as coriander are an appealing garnish and perfectly complement roasted dishes, dried herbs such as oregano, parsley and sage last longer and enhance the flavour.

5. Add Baking Soda

A pinch of baking soda can save your taste buds a stroll down the bitter lane! Owing to its alkaline nature, it is the perfect way to offset bitterness and lock in moisture. It must be added while you are cooking and sense that it may taste a bit too bitter. This is why it is an important ingredient when it comes to baking, to ensure that the levels of bitterness are checked (and the cake rises just right!).

However, it should be added in restrained amounts since an exaggerated amount of baking soda in the food can be overpowering and ruin the taste.

You can always check out Big C for buying the right ingredients for your food at just the right price!