We spend a lot of time thinking about how our mood affects our cravings. Every Monday, we share some of what goes on inside Cookthink as we’re analyzing recipes for the Cookthink database. The subject of this week’s Root Source is brown sugar. What makes foods like brown sugar taste “malty”?

Corinne says that malty tastes “sweet and earthy and full-bodied.” And she associates the color brown with a malty taste, like brown ales or “brown sugar, which is deeper and darker and more subtle than white sugar.” Corinne says she thinks of malty flavors as belonging to the American and British palate — malt liquor, brown sugar, malted milkshakes.

Claire thinks of “slightly burnt caramels” and malted milk balls (”sweet, but not quite, with that slight edge to it that surprises the tongue. Or maybe it’s so sweet that it’s almost not anymore — gone over the edge of sugar sweet to the malty beyond.”).

For Brys, malty is “anything intensely sweet and dark like caramel, brown sugar, dark maple syrup, molasses. Sugar with a sweet, rounded cooked, complex flavor. I crave malty things when I’m craving desserts, usually when the weather’s cool and I’ve had an early dinner.”

What does malty taste like to you?

Posted by kristin in mood of the week | | Subscribe to this feed