Piquance (pronounced /ˈpɪkəns/[1] or piquancy) is a sensation associated with the sense of taste. In various Asian countries it has traditionally been considered a basic taste.
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The English word piquant comes from the Old French present participle of the verb piquer, meaning to prick; it is cognate with the Spanish and Portuguese word picante, which carries the same meaning, and also with the English word pique. Common synonyms for piquance include hotness, pungence, raciness, spiciness, or the condition of something being spicy hot.
Use of the word "piquance" eliminates potential lingual ambiguity arising from overlap in meaning with the words "hot" and "spicy" which usually requires a determination or assumption of meaning based on context.
Instead of "hot" simply referring to temperature, and "spicy" being used to refer to the presence of spices (many of which are not actually piquant), the former two words are often used as synonyms for the latter, a word less commonly employed in reference to the characteristic which in regards to taste it solely defines, which is pain associated with the sense of taste.
For instance, a pumpkin pie can be both hot (out of the oven) and spicy (due to the common inclusion of ingredients in its recipe such as cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, mace and cloves) but is not actually piquant. Conversely, pure capsaicin is piquant, yet is not naturally accompanied by a hot temperature or spices.
Piquance is often quantized in scales that range from mild to hot. The Scoville scale measures the piquance of chili peppers, as defined by the amount of capsaicin they contain.
It is not considered a taste in the technical sense, because it is carried to the brain by a different set of nerves. While taste nerves are activated when consuming foods like chili peppers, the sensation commonly interpreted as "hot" results from the stimulation of somatosensory fibers in the mouth. Many parts of the body with exposed membranes that lack taste receptors (such as the nasal cavity, genitals, or a wound) produce a similar sensation of heat when exposed to pungent agents.
The piquant sensation provided by chili peppers, black pepper and other spices like ginger and horseradish plays an important role in a diverse range of cuisines across the world, such as Korean, Persian, Turkish, Ethiopian, Hungarian, Indian, Indonesian, Laotian, Singaporean, Malaysian, Bangladeshi, Mexican, Caribbean, Pakistani, Southwest Chinese (including Sichuan cuisine), Sri Lankan, and Thai cuisines.
Recently beverage products are emerging with capsaicin as an active ingredient.[2][3] The first two capsaicin beverages to hit the market are Prometheus Springs Elixirs[4] launched in 2007 and Sweet16 launched in 2011.[5] It is common for people to experience pleasurable and even euphoriant effects from ingesting capsaicin. Folklore among self-described "chiliheads" attributes this to pain-stimulated release of endorphins, a different mechanism from the local receptor overload that makes capsaicin effective as a topical analgesic. In support of this theory, there is some evidence that the effect can be blocked by naloxone and other compounds that compete for receptor sites with endorphins and opiates.[6]
Frequently in animated cartoons and the like, piquance is often shown as though the consumer's mouth is literally on fire to emphasise the burning sensation, with sight gags as flames and smoke coming out of their mouths when they consume spicy food.
The scientific term for the effect of piquance is chemesthesis. Substances such as piperine and capsaicin cause a burning sensation by inducing a trigeminal nerve reaction together with normal taste reception. The pungent feeling caused by allyl isothiocyanate, capsaicin, piperine, and allicin is caused by activation of the heat thermo- and chemosensitive TRP ion channels including TRPV1 and TRPA1 nociceptors. The pungency of chilies may be an adaptive response to selection by microbial pathogens.[7]
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