Sensory Evaluation

I will be conducting a sensory evaluation on Pupusas from El Salvador.

http://noshon.it/recipes/el-salvadoran-pupusas-curtido-salsa-roja/

The pupusas I got to experience were from a restaurant I have never been to named "La Pupusa Loka" on Wilson Avenue. I really enjoyed trying them for the first time as they reminded me of other Latin dishes I was familiar with like the crunchiness of a Colombian empanada or a Guatemalan Doblada,

Here are the 5 basic tastes and how I personally experienced them when eating this.

• Salty - Just the right amount of salt if any at all, the chicharrón and cheese inside the pupusas have their own natural salt already not to mention the curtido (pickled cabbage) and seasoned salsa roja all delivering a desired and balanced salt level to the pallet.
• Sweet - The salsa roja made from the ripest tomatoes gives it a hint of sweetness alongside the fresh cheese usually being a sweeter cheese than your usual cheddar.
• Sour - The curtido is a perfect addition to balance all the explosions of flavour going on with one bite, its pickled and sweet taste with the carrots gives your pallet a break from the saltiness of the other ingredients.
• Bitter - There was no bitterness that I could detect in the pupusas all being fresh ingredients, but perhaps the pickled cabbage could be considered a little acidy or bitter to others.
• Umame - Pupusas definitely do have their hint of umame I feel in the mix of the chicharrón and melted cheese and the seasoned salsa roja they all combine into a rich and flavour packed bite.

Pupusas are traditionally eaten with your hands and not utensils as they are usually eaten for breakfast in cold villages in El Salvador so they are meant to add to the experience by being hot and ready in your hands. This gives a great opportunity to experience them with your senses like the crunchiness of the fried masa in every bite, or the smell of hot fried chicharrón and cheese wafting into your nose oozing its flavours making you want to eat more and more. Feeling them hot in my hands reminded me of when I went to Guatemala and had something similar called Dobladas which are also fried masa but much more crispy and deep fried.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/372461831652915067/

As you can see they have a sort of similarity in their use of a red sauce and greens along with fried corn masa which reminded me of past times eating these dobladas which is pretty awesome that food can make you remember certain moments it is a strong sensory that we experience on the daily and the pupusas brought that nostalgia for me. I feel pupusas are very unique and should be treasured as the meal they are enjoyed around the world and with a long history and ties to Central American Culture. They are unique in the way that they are made of corn masa and filled with meats and cheese or frijoles (fried beans), they can easily be incorporated into fusion cuisine for example filling them with gyoza filling or seafood anything you can imagine and stomach.

I learned how my pallet perceives and receives so much information and senses when you really play close attention to what you eat and really search for the individual senses and tastes, especially when trying new foods. I thoroughly enjoyed eating pupusas for the first time they really made me feel proud to be Latino and remember the humility and hard working effort the people back in Central America have because there pupusas are a poor mans food but to me I think of them as the people's fuel to face another day and use what ingredients they source naturally from around them. I would definitely eat them again and plan to invite some friends who haven't tried them yet either so they can enjoy the beauty pupusas are, fried masa chicharrón and cheese. I really loved all the flavours involved it was a balanced mix of the 5 tastes and they combine naturally with each bite but most importantly each ingredient used can be distinguished and enjoyed once detected which I really enjoyed savouring them and the experience they brought. I feel doing this sensory evaluation really made me appreciate what you can get out of analyzing what you eat and how its perceived and liked or disliked by your body this will help me in learning how to pair food to compliment one another correctly and in a tasteful and balanced way not too overwhelming for the pallet. I will definitely continue practicing this when I get to try new foods with friends or by myself it is a great experience and can really make you enjoy something as simple as a hot dog from a vendor layered with your favourite toppings!

UPDATE: Using the recipe provided in the link under the picture of the pupusas I tried making some at home with my own salsa roja but I did not make curtido as you have to pickle the cabbage in advance and did not have the time but here is a picture of the pupusas I made of chicharron cheese and frijoles they turned out pretty authentic!