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Tasting cool

Cool food, cool wines

The third of Tam's current series on food and wine pairings is especially for those suffering through yet another 2021 heatwave. See last week's article on steak and white wine, and the previous week's Nectarines, goat's cheese and English pink.

François Chartier’s book Taste Buds and Molecules, which I referred to in my last food-wine pairing, has proved a fascinating read. In one of the first couple of chapters, one particular sentence caught my eye: ‘Mint is one of a group of “cold-tasting foods.”’

We’re all familiar with ‘hot’ food, and how capsaicin affects the receptors in...