There are plenty of answers available about the tongue map and the five basic flavors, as well as the cerebral process involved. However, what I want to know is the material property in food that can be percived by the tongue. At what level is sugar different from salt, coffee different from lemmon? Please exemplify.
2006-09-28 04:04:34 · 4 answers · asked by tasty 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Salty tastes are due to the presence of Sodium ions.
Sweety tastes are due to interactions between molecular structure of organic rings present in compounds such sucrosa, glucose, aspartame, sucralose, etc.
Bitter tastes are due to presence of H+ ions
Sour tastes are due to the presence of tanines or poisonous alcaloids that rise that characteristic and disagreable taste
Flavors are detected more in nasal structures than in tongue structures. Coffee, fragrances, flowers, spices flavors are due to the many organic compounds found in them:
For example, fruit flavors are due to aldehides presence in them, clove flavor is due to eugenol presence, cinnamon flavor is due to cinnamic aldehide, smoke flavor is due to the presence of polyphenols, etc.
Hope this is useful to you.
Cheers from Mexico!
2006-09-28 04:28:41 · answer #1 · answered by CHESSLARUS 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
biological activity is different from taste. No need to explain optical activity here.
sugars- mostly all sugar molecules have plenty of hydroxyl groups.
such as, glucose, fructose, glycerin
sour taste is from acids-citric acid from lemon, tartaric acid from tamarind, ascorbic acid from tomato, maleic acid from apple.
salty taste is from ions- chloride ions, nadium ions
thirsty taste is from bases- lime, caustic soda(diluted soln)
certain things have actually same taste but sensed as if they have different tastes. eg, coffee and neem are of same taste. the difference here comes is flavour. the flavour is detected by nose. if u take both these two with closed eyes and nose, u will find no difference in taste.
clear huh!
2006-09-28 11:20:07 · answer #2 · answered by King pandia 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A lot of it has to do with shapes. Optical isomers of chemicals are the same except that one molecule is a mirror image of the other. One will have taste and be biologically active, the other will not. They have to mesh with enzymes and receptor cells.
2006-09-28 11:09:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
pH
2006-09-28 11:07:10 · answer #4 · answered by crazymugal 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋