We have been taught since childhood that there are four flavors: sour, sweet, salty and bitter. For the past few decades, umami, which comes from Eastern cultures and has entered "our taste buds" with the boom in ethnic cuisines, has been added to the family of flavors. So here are four flavors plus one.
Starting today and for the next few Thursdays, let’s take a closer look at the various flavor characteristics by which our mouths recognize and evaluate the characteristics of foods and wines (and whatever else we drink).
That’s four flavors plus one. Today we start with sour, and then see-in the coming weeks-sweet, salty, bitter, and umami.
Sour
Sommelier texts claim that the sour taste is mostly felt on the sides of the tongue And stimulates salivation. If you even imagine a person eating a lemon, your mouth will water because of a conditioned reflex. It was enough to read it here to provoke you, wasn’t it?
So sourness, that flavor that makes children squint and is not particularly appreciated by many, comes from substances contained mainly in citrus fruits. These are the organic acids, citric, malic, and tartaric, primarily. And they are found in lemons, oranges, citron, but also in kiwis, for example. Always associated with ascorbic acid, vitamin C, which is very good for you. It is muted by the sweet, which is why we sweeten lemonade, for example, It is reinforced by the salty and bitter, so putting lemon juice in coffee is not most advisable.
There are also particularly acidic wines. They can be called sour, fresh, depending on the content. They are usually white and come from predominantly northern regions, in which grapes do not fully develop their sugar potential and the acidity component remains and defines the organoleptic profile of wines, moreover facilitating the formation of odorous, volatile substances. But that is another matter.
We look forward to seeing you next Thursday to learn more about the
sweet
.
