Is water impacting the taste of your food? The simple answer is yes. In this exclusive editorial with the experts at LUQEL, we discover the opportunity to elevate your food offering with carefully selected, high-quality water.
We know from both research, and interviews with industry professionals that the quality of our water directly affects not only the flavour of the food we cook, but also the texture and the success of certain processes like boiling, proving, and steaming. Some Italian restaurants import mineral water directly from Italy, as the water in London impacts both the taste and rise of their pizzas.
So, how does water impact taste and texture?
Mains water contains a variety of mineral salts, dependent on where you live in the UK. These mineral salts will make your water hard or soft. Hard water contains high levels of dissolved mineral salts, such as calcium, magnesium and potassium. Soft water has fewer dissolved minerals, so impacts the taste less.
When cooking vegetables in hard water, the minerals can leave a metallic aftertaste. According to a study in the Journal of Food Science and Technology, hard water impacts the taste of carrots, green beans and broccoli, giving these sweet vegetables a tougher texture and harsher taste. Even spinach and other leafy greens were shown to be more bitter, and darker when cooked in hard water. The same tough texture was also noted when cooking pasta, rice and grains.
Hard water can also reduce the rise in your bread-making. The calcium and magnesium can interfere with the action of the yeast in the dough, which leads to a weaker rise. It may even reduce the volume of bread by up to 50%, compared to bread made with soft water. It may also affect cakes and pastries by interfering with the leavening agents.
The solution is simple, filter the water to remove the hardness, but you could also look at the LUQEL water dispenser that not only removes all the salts and micro-impurities, but can produce waters that are specifically used for cooking pasta, bread making, and for pairing with food and wine.
LUQEL specific waters that can enhance food and beverage recipes.
For vegetables cook in MINIMALIST Water, which is an ultra-soft water, with a tiny trace of Magnesium. This will keep them sweet. Once cooked, pair the final dish with VEGGIE Water which, has a stronger mineralisation which enhances their taste.
Pasta should be cooked in PASTA BASTA which is a strongly salted water. To serve, use sparkling BON APPETIT, which has higher levels of magnesium and sulphate, which sweetens the water.
For bread making, I would suggest our softest water, MINIMALIST which will ensure you get the best rise.
