x
Balancing components of taste is a common strategy used by food scientists and chefs. If something is bitter, add something sweet and, voila, you’ve offset the bitterness. Adding tart or tangy notes also effectively diminishes a bitter taste. In the same vein, fresh-squeezed lemon or lime juice can dramatically change the final taste of an amino acid drink.
Certain flavors are stronger than others. Grape juice, lemonade, and pomegranate juice are very rich in color and have a bold taste that can mask less desirable flavors. Apple juice, on the other hand, is rather neutral and adds just a hint of sweetness.
The temperature of a food or beverage influences the intensity of the flavor. Hot cocoa tastes very chocolatey and sweet, while ice cold milk with the same amount of cocoa tastes a bit bland. Ice cream requires a fair amount of sugar and flavoring for the taste to be intense once it is frozen solid. It follows that if you want to diminish a flavor, you should consume it ice cold.
For this reason, amino acid drinks taste best with lots of ice or even blended up like a slushy or frozen margarita.
Most amino acid supplements come pre-flavored, usually with a natural low-calorie or non-caloric sweetener. The manufacturer usually suggests a ratio of powder mix to water but this is, by no means, a required direction. Using different volumes of water or water/juice combinations allows you to create a whole spectrum of concentrations, all of which provide the same effective dose.
If the taste is just not in your palette, the best strategy might be to mix the powder in a very small volume of water. While this “shot of supplement” will be intensely flavored, it can be consumed in one gulp. Some essential amino acid supplements are in capsule form, so if you are okay with swallowing pills (the dose is usually five or six fairly large capsules) then you can skip the culinary creativity and take your essential aminos in pill form.
There are endless options you can use to create your favorite amino acid drink. The idea is not to just love the benefits of a daily essential amino acid supplement but to love the taste of your amino acid drink too! #MyoHealth
