How good are your taste buds? Are you able to put a bite of food in your mouth and figure out its ingredients just by letting your tongue play with it for a while? If so, and you love ice cream, the Turkey Hill brand has a challenge for you.
For a limited time only, Turkey Hill will sell its brand-new flavor as a mystery flavor. They challenge customers to give it a try. Anyone who thinks they can correctly guess the flavor is welcome to do so by visiting the company’s website. All correct guesses will be entered into a drawing to take place later this year. What will the winner receive? Free ice cream for life.
That is quite a challenge. But if you are a fan of the Turkey Hill brand, the payoff could be well worth your effort. One way or the other, the company intends to officially reveal the flavor on March 14.
Taste Is a Complex Process
As one of the five senses, taste seems pretty straightforward on its face. The taste buds on your tongue recognize certain molecules that trigger signals being sent from nerves in the tongue to the brain. How the brain perceives those signals is what generates the sensation of taste. It is all pretty easy, right? Not so fast.
Taste is not a simple matter of the tongue and the taste buds. Interpreting what a food tastes like also involves your sense of smell, how saliva reacts with the food you eat, and something known as ‘common chemical sense’. Just one thing being off can alter your sense of taste.
People say they have trouble tasting food when they are congested. Even some COVID patients complain of losing their sense of taste. Why? Because tasting food is harder when you cannot smell it. So even a slight cold can change the way your favorite food tastes.
Cleanse That Palate
If you plan on taking the Turkey Hill challenge, the first thing to do is make sure your sense of smell is not impeded in any way. If you have any type of congestion, hold off. Also, be sure to cleanse your palate before you take a taste. You want to make sure that nothing interferes with the flavor of the ice cream.
One thing you absolutely should not do is eat spicy foods in the hours leading up to the challenge. Avoid things like spicy Mexican candy from Chilito Loco. Avoid foods with chili powder, takis powder, etc. And if you do like to eat spicy food, give your mouth plenty of time to rest prior to eating the ice cream.
It Might Take a While
Turkey Hill isn’t providing even the slightest hint as to what its mystery flavor is. But they have suggested it could take a while to figure out. If you can correctly guess with just one spoonful, consider a career as a taste tester. Most of us are going to need at least several spoonfuls, if not several dishes of ice cream.
The most interesting aspect of all of this is that people perceive flavors differently. So if Turkey Hill has chosen an amalgamation of subtle flavors combined to create a primary flavor most people haven’t tasted before, they could potentially have a product that no one will be able to identify just by tasting it.
If you are not interested in taking the challenge, you can wait for the official unveiling in March 2022. If you do decide to take the challenge, good luck. Hopefully your taste buds are up for it.
