Klarinet Archive - Posting 000922.txt from 1997/03

From: Gary Young <gyoung@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: What's so special about cane?
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 22:50:02 -0500

Diane--

Your comment reminds me of something that has puzzled me over the years.
Every so often I get a reed that tastes definitely sweet the first time i
use it (the sweetness is quite pleasant, but goes away quickly). What
accounts for this -- why do only some reeds taste this way? Does that mean
my salivary amylase is at work on these reeds? I haven't noticed any
pattern with the "sweet" reeds -- i.e. that they play better or worse, or
last shorter or longer, than other reeds. They just taste good!

Thanks for your fascinating contributions to this string!

Gary

----------
From: Diane Karius, Ph.D.[SMTP:dikarius@-----.EDU]
Subject: Re: What's so special about cane?

Scott D. Morrow wrote:

> I'm personally waiting for reeds made of sugar cane....
>

The sad thing is that if you can taste the sugar, I can guarantee that
the salivary amylase that we've talked about so much is happily
digesting your reeds :-(
(since that would imply disruption of the cell wall (cellulose) and
once you're past that, there's a whole of stuff that amylase would
happily chew on)

Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
2105 Independence Ave. Kansas City, MO
64124 email: dikarius@-----.EDU