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In order to satisfy national consumer taste as regards bread texture and flavour and achieve varying degrees of processing rationalization, a very diverse range of mixing techniques and fermentation procedures is in use throughout Europe and the North American continent. Fermentation or floor-times have been progressively reduced by the application of technology and mechanization, but the quality of the end-product as an eating experience has not always improved. Although wheat-flour bread has always dominated the bread market globally, consumer tastes are changing in favour of bread varieties with more ‘flavour-token’, which at the same time make an improved contribution to a healthy diet. Although an acquired taste, rye-flour bread has distinct advantages over wheat since it has a more intense flavour-token and is more satisfying on a weight for weight basis, its acidic crumb often complementing the eating experience of other foods. Its keeping qualities are unquestionably superior to wheat-flour bread varieties.

One fancy color diamond specialist I know likes nothing better than showing a mouth-watering array of lovely brown diamonds to out-of-town jewelers who visit him in New York. But the vacant stares that usually greet these stones quickly remind him that brown diamonds are still a seldom acquired taste. Nevertheless, he’s convinced that some day soon the very same diamonds will become a required taste.