In the Gemara here, Abaye asserts that the Chachamim gauged, no Isur gives taste more than onions and leeks.
Is this really so? There are forbidden peppers or spices, e.g. Orlah or Kilayim, that give taste to much more than 60 times their volume! What does Abaye mean?
I later found that the RASHASH asks this question. Can you suggest any answers?
Pesach Feldman
The Tiferes Yakov here explains that when the Gemara states that we gauge according to the taste given by onions and leeks, this is referring to forbidden foods which we do not know how strong a taste they give into the permitted foods with which they are cooked. However, if there are similar foods to the forbidden ones for which we do know how much taste they give, then we do not have resource to the onion and leek test but instead we estimate according to foods similar to the forbidden ones.
The Tiferes Yakov writes that the reason why Rebbi Aba asked Abaye that we should estimate according to peppers and spices was that since we do not know how much taste the foods give out, we should be Machmir and assume that the forbidden foods give over as much flavor as possible. However, the Gemara answers this question by asserting that the Chachamim assessed that no unknown foods give sharper taste than onions and leeks. The Gemara agrees that forbidden peppers and spices have a sharper taste than onions and leeks but was merely stating that there are no foods that we do not recognize that are sharper than onions and leeks.
In short, the Chachamim assessed that there are no unknown foods which have a stronger taste than onions and leeks, but the Gemara agrees that known forbidden peppers and spices may give a stronger taste.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom