Flavor Families:
Pungent Chemicals
There is a major exception to the rule that
herbs and spices provide aroma. The two most
popular spices in the world are chillis and
black pepper. They and a handful of other
spices — ginger, mustard, horseradish, wasabi
— are especially valued for a quality often
called hotness, but best called pungency:
neither a taste nor a smell, but a general
feeling of irritation that verges on pain.
Pungency is caused by two general groups of