eugenol

                    banana
                    greek yogurt
                    chestnut honey
                    hopfen-weisse veil
                    clove crisps
                    dianthus petals
                    rue leaves

When work takes up the bulk of the hours in a day, the consequence is that there is a trail of neglect left in it’s wake. The important things, like relationships with family and friends are what eat at me. The incidentals, like sleep and food, I learn to do without.
Breakfast, however, is not optional…I rely on it to fuel these long days. Most times, I grab a container of yogurt and a banana and I’m good to go. When I’m feeling a little more decadent, I’ll layer them in a fancy glass with chopped nuts and a drizzle of chestnut honey. I really like this combination…it satisfies body and soul.

I can only operate at 2 speeds when working 16 hour days: high and off. I seldom allow myself breaks simply because it throws off my momentum and I lose focus. When I’m ready to shut off at the end of the day, it’s a slow unwinding; a down-shifting of gears. A glass of wine eases the transition. With the onset of seasonably hot weather, a cold beer is my decompressor of choice.
Unlike wine, I’m not too fussy about what beer I drink. I only require that it be cold and alcoholic. I get lost trying to sort through the increasing variety of artisan-crafted beers from microbreweries, and end up reaching for the familiar Corona, even though it tastes like cat piss. I’m not indifferent to beer, it’s just that I haven’t found the time or opportunity to educate myself on it’s fine points.
Recently, an opportunity presented itself in an impromptu tasting led by an enthusiastic bartender who allowed me to steer the conversation with my observations. It turns out that I have potential as a hophead. Of the 6 craft beers that I sampled, the one that stood out was a Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse. I was immediately enamoured of it’s banana and clove flavor. It was like drinking liquid banana bread. It made my thoughts turn to breakfast.

It’s not that I’m in the habit of drinking beer for breakfast (the “hair of the dog” days are behind me, I can only hope), but the correlation between the flavor profiles of the Hopfen-Weisse and my typical morning fare made sense. Harold McGee confirms the link between the aromas of bananas and cloves in this excerpt from “On Food and Cooking“:
   “Bananas develop a meltingly smooth consistency, and a
distinctive aroma due primarily to amyl acetate and other esters, and
green, floral, and clove (eugenol) notes“.

I have a long-standing fascination with warm spices and cloves in particular, that stems from childhood memories and was later deepened from reading historical accounts of  the origins of spice trade.  One story told of an ancient Chinese Emperor whose lust for spice drove him mad. Sometimes, when I catch a whiff of  cloves, I can conjure up an image of him standing in his barge, dressed in regal robes, surrounded by his fragrant loot, his teeth stained and his breath redolent with the scent of cloves.

Dianthus, or carnations, smell like cloves because they share many of the same aroma compounds, Eugenol being the prominent one. The flavor of cloves can also be detected in rue, an esoteric herb, as well as in honey, and beer. Bananas, beer, honey and yogurt contain Butyric Acid, the aroma and flavor of cheese. Together, the flavor of these ingredients play harmoniously like the notes in a chord.

And, yes, I did eat this for breakfast…it was the ultimate indulgence.

Banana. Yogurt. Honey. Cloves. Beer. It may not be a breakfast for champions, but it is a winning combination.