Keepin' It Cool

Amber Dias finds out why some delicacies are best served cold.

- Amber Dias

The sultry summer sun probably has you reaching for the nearest icy cool lemonade or a scoop of your favourite ice cream. What better way to beat the heat? But chilly treats don’t have to be restricted to drinks and desserts. As the temperature rises, cold or raw meals are gaining a lot of popularity too. While the debate between hot v/s cold meals continues, there’s plenty of research that suggests that some dishes are better off served cold.

 

TEMPERATURE TALES

Food preparation has a huge effect on the levels of nutrients and phytochemicals in food and also how well they’re absorbed into the body. A study in the ‘British Journal of Nutrition’ found that people who ate a raw diet had high levels of vitamin A and beta carotene, but low levels of lycopene which suggests that some foods are best eaten raw.

Temperature also has a major effect on food, not just in terms of nutritional value, but also taste. A paper published in the ‘Journal of Sensory Studies’ found that the temperature at which cheddar cheese was served affected how it tasted. The higher the temperature, the more the sourness of the cheese increased. Similarly, ice cream gets sweeter as it warms up, which is why it turns sickly sweet when melted, but is pleasantly so in frozen form. Beer too tastes bitter as it warms up, while ham is savoury when warm but saltier when cold.

THE COLD FACTOR