When we eat or drink, often there is a lingering aftertaste from whatever it is that we consumed. Sometimes this is intentional and pleasant, such as the finish of a nice wine, but often it is not. In a multi-course meal, an aftertaste of the previous course often does not pair well with the food that is about to be consumed. Thus, the tradition of the palate cleanser.
A palate cleanser is generally a food or drink that would be described as “refreshing”, and that’s its purpose, to literally “refresh” your mouth. Bright (acidic) and neutral flavors with no aftertaste of their own are best suited for this task. For this reason, flavors that you’d commonly find in chewing gum (something that is specifically engineered to cleanse the taste of the mouth) are things that work well as a palate cleanser; mint, apple and citrus, as examples.
Fatty and salty foods tend to coat the mouth and dull the sense of taste, and quite often the foods we eat in restaurants are both salty and fatty, so we serve our food with a glass of water or green tea to sip between bites, a lime sorbet or slices of pickled ginger between courses, or finish our meal with a sprig of parsley. While these things can do an excellent job of cutting through the fat in the mouth and refreshing the palate, even the best palate cleanser won’t actually remove trace food from your mouth. Therefore, while a sip of water between tastings can help renew the senses, only a tongue scraper can do an adequate job of actually removing food from the tongue.
Though I almost invariably get strange looks when recommending such a thing, and though taking a bathroom break to scouer your tongue of debris between courses would be an awkward practice in a restaurant, nothing refreshes the palate as well as physically cleaning your tongue. Some people might think, “Well, what does oral hygiene really have to do with food?” but the answer is, of course, almost everything – unless you’re not putting that food in your mouth.
Tongue scrapers quite literally clean the taste buds and stimulate digestion, making them both an effective palate cleanser and digestif. If you’ve never used a tongue scraper before, you might be surprised at just how much debris lingers on your tongue and how much it affects your perception of flavors. I find it most noticeable when drinking beer. At the risk of sounding completely neurotic, I will often use a tongue scraper between beers, because it makes an enormous difference in how subsequent beverages will taste.
Not only are tongue scrapers an important part of oral health, but they’re potentially valuable assets for the enjoyment of food and drink. While I can’t foresee such a thing becoming all that common in dining settings, and I’m sure this post will mark my lunacy to many, try it, and you will see the difference. I promise.
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