chewing cherries again
July 29, 2018
Summer is a good time for cherries and drupes in general, so I get lots of insights into the chewing and eating of cherries.
It feels weird to chew cherries with my teeth. My ordinary method is to bite the cherry in half, extract the pit, and savor the juicy cherry goodness with my tongue. My tongue might roll the cherry around or probe its flesh or mash it against the roof of my mouth. I might suck on the cherry to pull out its juices. I might bite it lightly every once in awhile to increase the surface area, but the tongue does most of the work until I’m left with nothing but the skin.
The teeth get their action then, mashing the skin until it’s unrecognizable.
Chewing cherries from start to finish isn’t nearly as satisfying (and perhaps not so good for the tooth enamel) as giving it a good tongue lashing. The muscular tongue handles most of the job of chewing the cherry so the teeth can take it easy.
Seems to me that breaking food up with the tongue could do a better job of starting digestion than chewing with the teeth. The tongue is covered with saliva and sensory apparati. It could efficiently mix the food with saliva, no problem. All of those tastebuds, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, and other touch data might give the digestive system a detailed picture of the food coming down the pike.
Ah, but the peaches are delightful this summer!
With peaches and nectarines, the tongue plays an even bigger role. Their tissues are bursting with juice, and their flesh dissolves easily under lingual ministrations. When they are as ripe and luscious as they have been recently, they practically melt on your tongue without any effort at all.
I often have my drupes with nuts. Nuts are too tough to yield their secrets to the lithe tongue, and thus they require more classic athletic chewing. 20-40 vigorous chews is right in that ballpark. It’s satisfying to grind them until they are a little finer than breadcrumbs.
I don’t like to reduce them to paste, though. Something happens when you go from nut bits to nut butter. That’s a bridge too far.
(I’m aware that one could read this post as sexual subtext. Don’t. It’s not there.)