Sometimes, you’ll hear a chef describing the taste of a food as “vegetal.” For instance, I recently came across a chef claiming that green bell peppers were “vegetal” while red bell peppers are sweet and slightly spicy. How does this differentiate the two? Well, the truth it, it doesn’t. Bell peppers could also be described as having vegetal flavors. The problem isn’t the term, however, it is applying the term to food when it’s more appropriately applied to beverages like tea, wine or beer.
Vegetal Flavors in Tea, Wine, or Beer
When describing flavors in tea, wine, or beer, the word vegetal is sometimes paired or used interchangeably with “grassy.” This type of flavor might be described as fresh cut grass, spinach, various herbs, seaweed or basically anything reminiscent of green plants. It is not a specific flavor but an umbrella term to describe what may be more than one flavor undertone. It is quite possible, then, that a wine could be described as having a vegetal flavor reminiscent of green bell peppers or red bell peppers. Many other specific vegetables or plants may be described however. If you tasted something that reminded you of asparagus in a wine, you could say that it had a vegetal undertone that reminded you of asparagus. Even strongly flavored aromatic herbal tones would fall under this umbrella of vegetal. In fact, even the taste of cooked vegetables could fall under this term.
So, to describe a specific food as vegetal is basically the same as saying “it tastes like a plant food.” Some chefs my think it means “green” or “grassy” and this is fine, but most people have no idea what it means so using this general descriptor to describe something specific is pretentious and meaningless. It sounds fancy but doesn’t really describe the food in any useful way.
It would be perhaps better to describe green bell peppers as grassy, slightly bitter, with a hint of sweetness. You might then say that red bell peppers, the more ripened stage of the pepper, are somewhat fruity, somewhat sweet, and perhaps a bit spicy. Some people might detect other flavors.
When the term vegetal is used to describe “green” flavors in tea, wine, beer, etc. it can be difficult to understand what is meant. I have seen claims that, regarding tea, this may refer to the chlorophyll in the tea leaves themselves. Chlorophyll itself does have a flavor, but it’s hard to describe. If I had to try, I’d say it taste somehow like a water-down plant. I can’t get more descriptive that that because chlorophyll taste like…chlorophyll. The taste is slight and it is difficult to say that this is what is responsible for any and all vegetal notes in a tea.
Herbaceous Versus Vegetal
You will hear the term herbaceous being used more often then vegetal, even when the speaker is actually referring to vegetal flavors. The two terms are often used interchangeably. But, herbaceous more properly refers to more aromatic herbs like mint, thyme, or rosemary while herbaceous can refer to any plant-like taste or aroma.
Different compounds in wine, beer, or tea are responsible for vegetal tastes or aromas. In wine, compounds called pyrazines cause flavors such as bell pepper, green bean, and asparagus. Humans are very good at detecting these compounds, even in tiny amounts. Other compounds can cause green notes like hay, cut grass, etc.
