Worst Tastes: Tabasco & Baking Soda/Popcorn Butter

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The discussion centers around the worst tasting foods and experiences shared by participants. A few notable combinations include coffee stirred with Tabasco, which resulted in an unpleasant sour taste, and popcorn followed by brushing teeth with baking soda, which tasted like vomit. Participants also mention bad experiences with sushi, particularly sea urchin, which some found distasteful while others enjoyed. The conversation touches on various food items like hominy, cilantro, and durian, with many expressing strong aversions to certain flavors and textures. There are anecdotes about unusual foods, such as crab brains and fermented soybeans (natto), with mixed reactions. The thread highlights personal taste preferences and the cultural significance of certain foods, while also noting that some flavors can be an acquired taste. Overall, the discussion reflects a wide range of culinary experiences, from the bizarre to the universally disliked.
Ivan Seeking
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What are the worst things that you have ever tasted?

By chance I have discovered two combinations that are extraordinarily terrible:

I once inadvertently used a spoon covered with Tabasco to stir my coffee. I don't remember it tasting like anything familiar, but there must be some kind of chemistry going on there because it was unbelievably bad! IIRC it was super-sour, so maybe it was just the combination of the acids.

Tonight I discovered another one: Tsu and I had some popcorn tonight. After this I went in a brushed my teeth. I occasionally use baking soda for brushing instead of toothpaste, and by chance I did so tonight. Well, much to my surprise, baking soda combined with the butter flavoring used on the popcorn tastes exactly like vomit! It seemed to take a bit for the taste to set in, but once it did, wow, there was no mistake about it! A Listerine rinse never tasted so good.
 
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Earwax.
 
brewnog said:
Earwax.

From whose ear?
 
Anyone's, though I haven't carried out too much research since I was younger.

This question reminds me of the baddie in Earthworm Jim, who was so evil he actually liked the taste of toothpaste and orange juice.
 
Easy. I love sushi and one time I tried the urchin. Worse than anything I could have imagined.

Good thing it was really expensive. I only ordered one.
 
The mere mention of aluminum foil provokes an involuntary shutter.

"Oops. Missed a piece."

Ackkkkkk....
 
Ivan - that buttery flavoring isn't butter, but some artificial compound. I heard recently that that particular compound represents a health hazard to food workers who may inhale it in the production area. I need to find that article.


Chi Meson said:
Easy. I love sushi and one time I tried the urchin. Worse than anything I could have imagined.
Really?! I thought it tasted pretty good. Did you get it in the US or Japan. Freshness and the water in which they are grown/stored makes a big difference.


As for bad taste, I recently demonstrated that strawberry-banana does not go with garlic chicken.


As for beverages, orange Tang and Vodka do not make a good screwdriver, and even worse - Vodka and cheap root beer. Do not try this! My excuse - I was 16 and inexperienced.
 
Ivan Seeking said:
From whose ear?

Rofl!
 
Creatine mix from ultra nutrition, Tastes really bad with anything.
 
  • #10
Any of the Bertie Bott's every-flavor jelly beans - top of the list: earwax flavor.
 
  • #11
Coffee accidentally sweetened with salt.
 
  • #12
robphy said:
Coffee accidentally sweetened with salt.
Done that!

It really wakes one up - on the spot!
 
  • #13
1. Cilantro
2. Capers
3. first go brush your teeth with crest, make sure to do it fast and not rinse as well as you should have, now go undo your cleaning by drinking a glass of KoolAid. Most foul tasting combination I have experienced. (Gatorade works too).
 
  • #14
Babies.

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=244163

Why on Earth do I get into subjects like this at lunch time?
 
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  • #15
Cucurbitacin. Also known as the most bitter substance on the planet. We were once grinding buffalo gourd using a jet mill and I got some of it into my mouth.
Been voting Republican ever since...
 
  • #16
Astronuc said:
Ivan - that buttery flavoring isn't butter, but some artificial compound. I heard recently that that particular compound represents a health hazard to food workers who may inhale it in the production area. I need to find that article.

'Diacetyl' might help your search.

It is produced naturally by yeast during fermentation. My first wine tasting included a very young Chardonnay from Jordan Wines (not yet ready for release) that had very high levels of this compound. It was like sipping a teaspoon of butterscotch. Stupid me, the flavors I was supposed to be focussing on were the underlying fruity ones. I kept going on how much I liked the butter...
 
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  • #17
As a biology student, I was required to take part in a survey of genetic markers, and we all went from station to station in a large hall, each of us with a clipboard filling in a questionnaire. At the last station, there were little strips of paper and the instruction was to touch one of them to your tongue and record your impression of the taste. The people in front of me (as much of the line as I could see) each grabbed a strip of paper, touched it to their tongues, wrote something down (probably "tastes like paper") and moved on. Not me. I touched that piece of paper to my tongue and immediately tasted the most horrid, bitter metallic taste (mostly on the back of my tongue) I had ever experienced. When I turned in my clipboard, I asked the grad student (who had been watching me) what was on that paper, and he said that it was an alkaloid and that judging from my reaction, I would not be at risk for poisoning by mushrooms, since I probably would have to spit it out immediately just because of the taste.
 
  • #18
Astronuc said:
Really?! I thought it tasted pretty good. Did you get it in the US or Japan. Freshness and the water in which they are grown/stored makes a big difference.

I am not about to find out if my piece was an anomaly. My friend referred to urchin as "advanced sushi." I needed 3 smoked eels to get back to normal.
 
  • #19
chemisttree said:
'Diacetyl' might help your search.
That's it!

It is produced naturally by yeast during fermentation. My first wine tasting included a very young Chardonnay from Jordan Wines (not yet ready for release) that had very high levels of this compound. It was like sipping a teaspoon of butterscotch. Stupid me, the flavors I was supposed to be focussing on were the underlying fruity ones. I kept going on how much I liked the butter...
Ah - that's what you get for being a chemist.

I too would be distracted by a butterscotch flavor in a wine.

I don't care too much for Chardonnays anyway. I much prefer the reds - particularly Syrah, Shiraz, and Lembergers, then Merlot/Beaujolais, Pinot/Burgundies, and Cabernets.
 
  • #20
Chi Meson said:
I am not about to find out if my piece was an anomaly. My friend referred to urchin as "advanced sushi." I needed 3 smoked eels to get back to normal.
I used to go to Japan once a year for technical meetings and we'd invariably go off to some place in the countryside. We'd invariably have the infamous box lunch, which contained a variety of seafood, and one of them had sea urchin and I think some kind of sea slug or sea cucumber.

I've never had bad seafood in Japan.

But then I eat just about anything.
 
  • #21
Chi Meson said:
Easy. I love sushi and one time I tried the urchin. Worse than anything I could have imagined.

Good thing it was really expensive. I only ordered one.

Astronuc said:
Really?! I thought it tasted pretty good. Did you get it in the US or Japan. Freshness and the water in which they are grown/stored makes a big difference.
Was it Uni? That's sea urchin roe which is quite popular in Japan and tastes awful. The worst sushi I've ever had was at a 4 star Hotel in Tokyo. Since the waiters were walking around the ballroom offering trays with assorted sushi, I have no idea what it was. I had to spit it into a potted plant when no one was watching.

Hominy corn (corn soaked in lye) tastes and smells like sweaty sneakers.
 
  • #22
I like hominy--you have to drain the liquid off--the liquid is the 'not too tasty part'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominy
"Hominy can be ground coarsely to make hominy grits, or into a fine mash (dough) to make masa, the dough used to make tamales."


Cilantro I can do without--it tastes the same as biting into a bar of soap to me, for some reason

http://www.ihatecilantro.com/stories.php
 
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  • #23
Heh, I usually ask for double-extra cilantro in my salsa.
 
  • #24
The taste of my own words can be bitter at times. Vurp is pretty bad too, especially if it has been in my nose. In Japan they have a treat called Natto, a kind of fermented soy bean. I couldn't stand it at first, but my wife made me feed to to my toddler daughter. She wasn't having it so I would do what all stupid parents do, take a taste and say "yummy". My daughter was never fooled by any of this, but I came to enjoy the taste of it.
 
  • #25
Ivan Seeking said:
Heh, I usually ask for double-extra cilantro in my salsa.
We grow our own cilantro fresh for the most potent fresh flavor and all my tomato-based salsas get a good portion of it. Mmmm! It's the last ingredient to be added, just before I fill, seal and process the jars, so the flavor won't be destroyed by the cooking process.
 
  • #26
Evo said:
Was it Uni? That's sea urchin roe which is quite popular in Japan and tastes awful. The worst sushi I've ever had was at a 4 star Hotel in Tokyo. Since the waiters were walking around the ballroom offering trays with assorted sushi, I have no idea what it was. I had to spit it into a potted plant when no one was watching.

It was not roe. I can't remember what it's called, but it was a slimy gelatinous, dark brown blob on a disk of rice. The seaweed wrap prevented it from oozing over the side.

It wasn't in Japan, but quite obviously the next best place for sushi is Hartford.
 
  • #27
The best sushi I ever had was in Maine at the Maine Festival. A sushi restaurant from Portland had set up a booth, so I ordered an assortment platter. The fresh Atlantic salmon was exquisite. I should point out that this was many years before the Japanese started their fad for urchin roe, so I was spared that. Mostly tuna, salmon, swordfish, etc on the plate, wrapped around their fillings.
 
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  • #28
Evo said:
I had to spit it into a potted plant when no one was watching.
I once ate a potted plant when no one was watching.
 
  • #29
zoobyshoe said:
I once ate a potted plant when no one was watching.

:smile::smile::smile: You got me with that one!
 
  • #30
Ivan Seeking said:
:smile::smile::smile: You got me with that one!
Please tell me you spit up and ruined your keyboard. It's a dream I have.
 
  • #31
zoobyshoe said:
Please tell me you spit up and ruined your keyboard. It's a dream I have.

Yep, I now have half-chewed petunia all over my keyboard.
 
  • #33
jimmysnyder said:
The taste of my own words can be bitter at times. Vurp is pretty bad too, especially if it has been in my nose. In Japan they have a treat called Natto, a kind of fermented soy bean. I couldn't stand it at first, but my wife made me feed to to my toddler daughter. She wasn't having it so I would do what all stupid parents do, take a taste and say "yummy". My daughter was never fooled by any of this, but I came to enjoy the taste of it.

Having read this (and seen the pictures) I don't think I could even bring myself to open a packet of the stuff
 
  • #34
Chi Meson said:
Easy. I love sushi and one time I tried the urchin. Worse than anything I could have imagined.

Good thing it was really expensive. I only ordered one.

Evo said:
Was it Uni? That's sea urchin roe which is quite popular in Japan and tastes awful. The worst sushi I've ever had was at a 4 star Hotel in Tokyo. Since the waiters were walking around the ballroom offering trays with assorted sushi, I have no idea what it was. I had to spit it into a potted plant when no one was watching.

I LOVE uni! It's one of my favorite types of sushi, because it actually tastes like something different from everything else (I can sort of taste differences among other types of sushi, but it's really hard to tell, but uni is distict, so more enjoyable to break up a plate of fish).

And, it's not exactly roe (not sure if you want to know what it really is, so don't keep reading if you'd rather not).

Uni (oo-nee) is the Japanese name for the edible part of the Sea Urchin. While colloquially referred to as the roe (eggs), uni is actually the animal's gonads (which produce the milt and roe, sea urchins being hermaphrodites). Uni ranges in color from rich gold to light yellow, and has a creamy consistency that some love and is off-putting to others.

http://www.sushifaq.com/sushi-items/sushi-items-uni.htm

But, it has to be really fresh. As the cited page indicates, if it's just a bit old, it starts to taste pretty off pretty fast.
 
  • #35
Fresh gonads don't taste off?
 
  • #36
robphy said:
Anyone try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian ?
I've only gotten close enough to be offended by the smell.

Even that guy on that show on Food Network who goes around tasting all the weirdest things in the world can't manage to eat Durian. He's tried it on 3 different shows in 3 different places, and every time, he takes a bite and immediately spits it back out. This is a guy who sits down to plates of bugs on a regular basis. Does anyone really eat it, or is it just some big joke they play on the tourists, or something little kids dare each other to eat?
 
  • #37
chemisttree said:
Fresh gonads don't taste off?
Mmmm! Lamb fries!
 
  • #38
Moutai.

A snippet from the wikipedia article on moutai:
"In 2007, it was reported that pollution from 39 illegal liquor plants on the Chishui River was threatening the water from which Maotai is made."

Moutai is essentially bottled essence of North Jersey. That pollution would probably improve the taste.
 
  • #39
turbo-1 said:
Mmmm! Lamb fries!

When you go hunting do you use a sharp knife or a gun?
 
  • #40
chemisttree said:
When you go hunting do you use a sharp knife or a gun?
Both. :-p
 
  • #41
Chi Meson said:
It was not roe. I can't remember what it's called, but it was a slimy gelatinous, dark brown blob on a disk of rice. The seaweed wrap prevented it from oozing over the side.

Moonbear said:
Uni ranges in color from rich gold to light yellow, and has a creamy consistency that some love and is off-putting to others.
I seem to remember something orange or brownish-orange with a rather unusually texture - kind of creamy - more like a puree. I ate it out of the shell. IIRC, it was pretty good!

I'll try anything at least once. :biggrin:

And I tend to like strong tasting stuff.
 
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  • #42
chemisttree said:
Fresh gonads don't taste off?
I had fried bull gonads while in Spain. They were pretty tasty.

I've pretty much eaten every part of cattle.
 
  • #43
Astronuc said:
I seem to remember something orange or brownish-orange with a rather unusually texture - kind of creamy - more like a puree. I ate it out of the shell. IIRC, it was pretty good!

I've never been served it in the shell. I would prefer that, because usually they put too much for a single bite wrapped with rice and seaweed (I don't usually get rolls because I don't like that seaweed wrap stuff) and I can't bite it in half without making a huge mess. I've usually seen it in an orangey-yellow color. Yes, it's very creamy. I could imagine some might be put off by the texture if it's not what they are expecting.
 
  • #44
I like the seaweed wrap.

My colleagues would bring back weird (well they thought it was weird) food from Japan just to see I would eat it.

There's probably nothing I wouldn't eat - as long as it's not harmful.
 
  • #45
I don't mind the seaweed wrap as long as the flavors of the other ingredients are not compromised. Some seaweed/kelps are stronger-tasting than others and the complex flavors of raw fish can be subtle.
 
  • #46
turbo-1 said:
I don't mind the seaweed wrap as long as the flavors of the other ingredients are not compromised. Some seaweed/kelps are stronger-tasting than others and the complex flavors of raw fish can be subtle.
Yeah - some fresh fish have delicate flavors that can be overwhelmed by sauces or other strong tasting food.

My family thinks my taste buds are long dead from all the hot stuff I eat, but that far from the case.

I love wasabi, which for me is rather mild.

I love fresh and pickled ginger.
 
  • #47
Hm..I'd have to say

Durian: smells pretty bad but people say it's delicious..but I've never tried it. I'm turned away by the smell.

Anyone tried Century Egg? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg
I eat it in rice porridge. It can taste overwelming if you eat it straight like it is but that's why there's porridge. (I tried it at a restauraunt and then decided it was to my liking so I looked for it at the store)

The pattern on the egg white is quite beautiful and snowflaky.

I saw they made people eat it on fear factor. They had to eat 3 straight without anything. I was thinking I'd win that competition since they had to pick what they were going to eat. (totally beats eating rotten squid)

Spinich dish from a particular restauraunt makes my mouth have a metallic taste for some reason. It might be how they cook it though since It was a Malaysian restauraunt and they use garlic to stir fry the spinich.
 
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  • #48
I had the "privilege" of sharing an apartment with a Korean-service vet that had acquired a taste for a regional version of kimchee that not only incorporated brined fermented vegetables, but also included fish. That was some nasty stinky stuff. I never tasted it because I could not get past the smell. It may have been great, but I could not make myself sample it.
 
  • #49
Astronuc said:
Yeah - some fresh fish have delicate flavors that can be overwhelmed by sauces or other strong tasting food.

My family thinks my taste buds are long dead from all the hot stuff I eat, but that far from the case.

I love wasabi, which for me is rather mild.

I love fresh and pickled ginger.
I love wasabi, too, but you know what other hot stuff I eat, so that should not be a surprise. Sinus problems? Try wasabi! I cannot eat baked beans without liberal amounts of horseradish. Mmmm! That dates back to when I was a kid. My wife has not used salad dressings for months - she has switched to using a mix of home-made bread-and-butter pickles and my clean-up chili relish on her salads. The clean-up relish consists of my regular recipe, made from the green jalapenos, green super-chilies, and green habaneros that were left on my plants when the first hard frost was predicted. That is some very flavorful relish with a complex burn.
 
  • #50
Anyone eaten crab brains? On Iron Chef, whenever the chef added crab brains into a dish, everyone would go "oooooh".

Moonbear, you have just assured that I will NEVER eat Uni. I get the creeps just looking at it.
 

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