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Gallin
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I was wondering if certain compounds were responsible for different tastes. Like a certain one for bitter ,salty, sweet, and sour. Thanks for any info you can provide.
Gallin said:So you couldn't recreate the taste of say a hamburger just from a couple of chemicals?
Depends what you call taste. In a very restrictive sense, this all comes from 4 types of receptors within the tongue. In a more common sense such as the taste of an hamburger, then most of the taste is in fact carried by olfaction. Then you'll have also a contribution of nociceptors (capsaicin and gazeous liquids), proprioceptors (consistence of the food), expectations (coca lovers that prefer it over pepsi, but if it's in a pepsi can), vision, and emotionnal memories (the taste of wiskey is not the same when you had a bad experience with it, as you may have noticed yourself). An example for vision is the fact that kids prefer their lunch, whatever the lunch, when it's in an McDo box.Gallin said:I was wondering if certain compounds were responsible for different tastes. Like a certain one for bitter ,salty, sweet, and sour. Thanks for any info you can provide.
Both are about chemical properties, but the situation is far more complex for odors than for taste. Basic tastes are tied to one type of receptors. Everything is clear cut, no pb. One can also define some basic odors, but that's a bit artificial and the link to the chemical properties is a mess. There is hundreds if not thousands of chemical that can bind to odorant binding proteins, so an odor is any recipe (combinaison of some of these chemicals in different proportion) that evokes about the same pattern of activity in the olfactory epithelium.Gallin said:So if there are basic tastes are there basic odors? If so are they also controlled by certain chemicals.
Gallin said:So if there are basic tastes are there basic odors? If so are they also controlled by certain chemicals.
Gallin said:So it would be possible to combine enough stuff together to make something taste and smell like a hamburger when it is not a hamburger? ( hamburger is just an example but other foods as well )
Some common examples include sugar (responsible for sweetness), salt (responsible for saltiness), citric acid (responsible for sourness), and glutamate (responsible for umami or savory taste).
Compounds interact with taste buds on our tongue, which then send signals to the brain. Depending on the type and amount of compounds present, our taste receptors will detect different tastes.
No, compounds can have multiple taste qualities. For example, citric acid can be both sour and slightly sweet, while glutamate can be savory and slightly bitter.
Yes, compounds can have a different effect on taste depending on the food they are present in. For example, sugar may taste sweeter in fruit compared to bread.
Yes, factors such as temperature, texture, and aroma can also influence our taste perception. These factors can enhance or mask certain tastes, making our overall perception of a food more complex.