In a study by Guangxi University on the nutrient composition of sour bamboo shoots and its main flavor substances, sour bamboo shoots were mashed and put in a test tube, with gas then being separated through heating in a water bath. The smell of the gas was then analyzed using a gas chromatography mass spectrometer, and the stinking culprit was identified: p-cresol.

Fresh bamboo is rich in an amino acid called tyrosine, and when pickling sour bamboo shoots, the bamboo shoots are directly poured into clean water or rice water to stand still for between two weeks and a month. In this process, tyrosine is metabolized and degraded, the aim being to it into p-cresol.

Those who have studied high school chemistry may recall that due to the similarity of chemical composition, p-cresol also has the same pungent odor as disinfectant, coupled with some rotten fish and burnt leather smells.

"I don't think it's smelly at all," says Wang Jing, who regards himself as a connoisseur."If luosifen is just about a foul smell, it might be on 'hot sell' for a short time because of those hunting for a novelty, but the soul sour bamboo shoots are the magic. As long as you put it in your mouth only the savory taste lingers. It's the taste of a past and present life."

According to the Guangxi University study, this is because while the smelly substances are produced by the fermentation of bamboo shoots, short peptides, amino acids and sugars are dissociated. As a typical high-protein aquatic product, the snail soup is also rich in nucleotides and polysaccharides, which all have high melting points, and are nonvolatile with their umami substance. We can't smell but we can taste it.

So those who appreciate snail noodles have really tasted the sweetness. It is precisely with this strange taste that snail noodles have torn many people's traditional dietary views beyond Guangxi.

zhanglei@chinadaily.com.cn