Ready for the four flavors plus one, bitterness. How many times have we twisted our mouths at this taste that is generally contrary to our preferences since these, we saw in the “second episode,” from childhood are naturally predisposed toward the sweet taste. Yet.
If there is one flavor that few people like this is bitterness. It may be because many lethal, poisonous substances are bitter. Cyanide, arsenic. So they take us back to ancestral fears And they cause this flavor to be distrusted, evidently. One must defend oneself, in short. This is the fourth of the four flavors plus one, the Bitter.
The bitterness can be felt at the back of the tongue and that is why we often feel it as an “aftertaste.” It is evident in many foods, in many vegetables especially. Chicory, arugula, turnips, almonds. The terpenes, fragrant volatile substances, are also bitter when tasted. It happens in many wines, for example, such as Gewürztraminer and Moscati, which not surprisingly also have residual sugars that serve precisely to cover the final bitter or simply “almondy” notes. Not to mention the tannins, bitter as well.
But bitter aftertastes can also be found in many foods. Think of cheeses, for example, and particularly aged or so-called blue cheeses, such as Gorgonzola, Stilton, or Roquefort. In this case, it is the green or blue molds that form during aging that are responsible for the bitter taste.
Of course, of the four flavors plus one, the bitter Is a complicated flavor and almost never found on its own. It enhances the salty, but also the sour and umami sensation, and the only one that can keep it at bay is the sweet, which lasts longer and manages to make it seem irresistible.
Here is the summary of the other flavors analyzed so far:
