The overall flavor of a fruit or vegetable is a
composite of several distinct sensations. From
the taste buds on our tongues, we register
salts, sweet sugars, sour acids, savory amino
acids, and bitter alkaloids. From the cells in
our mouth sensitive to touch, we notice the
presence of astringent, puckery tannins. A
variety of cells in and near the mouth are
irritated by the pungent compounds in
peppers, mustard, and members of the onion
family. Finally, the olfactory receptors in our
nasal passages can detect many hundreds of
volatile molecules that are small and
chemically repelled by water, and therefore
fly out of the food and into the air in our
mouth. The sensations from our mouth give us
an idea of a food’s basic composition and
qualities, while our sense of smell allows us
to make much finer discriminations.
Taste: Salty, Sweet, Sour, Savory, Bitter Of
the five generally recognized tastes, three are