The right temperature for the right food

After back-to-back posts on truffle balls (albeit rather different truffle balls), I thought I should step away from my food processor for a little while.

All the way over to the fridge.

You see, several things have recently caused me to ponder how my food tastes change according to temperature. I think it goes without saying that most people prefer some things cold and some things hot. Few, I suspect, would disagree with the idea that ice cream is best served frozen.

If you're like me, though, you also have foods that you freeze even if that isn't the typical way of serving them. Bananas, for intance. Or you may like some things warmed up, even if others raise an eyebrow or two. Weet-bix, maybe. Right?

Here are my best-frozen, best-chilled, best-at-room-temperature, and best-warm lists of foods (and drinks) that may not traditionally be served at those temperatures. Some foods move between lists over time, so consider this a snapshot at this moment - and I'd love to hear yours!

Best frozen

Bananas

I'm sure I am not alone here. I very rarely eat bananas plain (perhaps 3 or 4 times a year), but I could eat them frozen every day. Sometimes they are processed into banana softserve, but sometimes I'll just eat them plain. I freeze my bananas peeled and broken in half, in small zip-lock bags, so eating them from the bag is easy. It's like a natural, creamy, ice-pole.

Compared to this...

...how could this possibly not be more fun?

Yoghurt

Yoghurt really belongs in the frozen and chilled categories, but I think the frozen category is less 'normal' and so I thought it deserved mention. Also, I'm typing this on a 37'C day. Frozen is looking pretty good all around at the moment.

I think it's established that I adore soft-serve frozen yoghurt, but the type I'm talking about here is actually the regular, non-frozen, variety. (Non-frozen that turns into frozen. It's all a bit confusing really.)

One of the disadvantages of natural pot-set yoghurt is that it actually doesn't lend itself well to freezing. For this reason alone I still sometimes buy the commercial, flavoured soy yoghurts that come in individual tubs. If you time it just right with those small containers, you can freeze them until they're almost frozen solid but not quite. It's like soft-serve frozen yoghurt, but without the hassle or cost of tracking it down. When I bought the regular dairy commercial yoghurts, I ate them frozen about as often as I ate them from the fridge.

Grapes

As with yoghurt, I like grapes in chilled as well as frozen form. However, when frozen they turn into individual bursts of sorbet-like sweetness. Very fun in summer. And just in general for that matter.

Just make sure they are seedless: seeds rather compromise the sorbet experience.

Best chilled

Mango

I like mango in most forms (including frozen), but I like it best chilled. At room temperature it seems too sticky and slimy; refrigeration seems to help with the texture whilst also enhancing the taste.

Sultana bran with (non-dairy) milk

I tried this by accident when I took sultana bran to work and put it in the fridge for a while with coconut milk already added. When I returned half an hour later, it was amazing. The sultana bran had absorbed most of the liquid (possibly because I don't tend to use a lot) and was delightfully chilled. It was the best bowl of cereal I'd had in a long time, and I now recreate the experience regularly. It just seems to taste better cold! I've tried it with soy and rice milk as well as coconut, and all work well.

Chilled sultana bran and chilled mango

Potatoes

Although I really like baked potatoes, there is something about cold (cooked, mind you, but cooked and then cooled) potatoes that I find quite addictive. I like them completely plain, although a bit of parsley sprinkled on top is allowed.

Best at room temperature

Chocolate

Although I will definitely still eat chocolate from the fridge, I prefer it unchilled. I like to enjoy soft centres or contrasting textures if they are available, and in the fridge, everything merges together somewhat. I find the taste less sharp from the fridge too.

Wrap / tortilla bread

Commercial wrap bread packets recommend warming the wraps before serving. I like mine unwarmed, straight from the packet, even if they are being filled with warm contents.

Water

I get through quite a lot of water, and I find that when it's chilled it is too cold to drink in large bursts! I like soda water cold, and cold water on a very hot day is always appreciated, but most of the time I drink water at room temperature. Carting it around in water bottles may have contributed to this tendency.

Best warm

Weet-bix

But only in Winter. And then warm and mushy.

Crumpets and English Muffins

Not toasted, you understand, but warmed. I like these soft, and in the case of crumpets, warmed to the point that they are capable of just slightly absorbing my honey.

Pasta

I'm not a big pasta eater, but if I'm having it, it will definitely not be in cold pasta salad. Ick.

And there we have (some of) my personal, possibly idiosyncratic, food temperature preferences. How do they compare to yours?!

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On comments: Some of you who comment (to who, as always, I am very grateful) may have noticed that I switched from the Disqus commenting system back to Blogger about a week ago. This followed on from the temporary Disqus glitch I experienced, which I think was triggered by Blogger upgrading their comment system. Blogger now has threaded comment replies, and as wanting that was what prompted me to use Disqus, I made the switch back.


However, I've found that there are other things I miss about Disqus and so I'm considering returning to it. Before doing so, I wanted to check if anyone who comments has a preference. Is one easier than the other for you? Any pros or cons for either Disqus or Blogger? If you do have an opinion or preference, I'd love to hear it!

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