Measuring Relative Tastes
Measuring the degree to which a substance presents one basic taste can be achieved in a subjective way by comparing its taste to a reference substance. Quinine, a bitter medicinal found in tonic water, can be used to subjectively rate the bitterness of a substance. Units of dilute quinine hydrochloride (1 g in 2000 mL of water) can be used to measure the threshold bitterness concentration, the level at which the presence of a dilute bitter substance can be detected by a human taster, of other compounds. More formal chemical analysis, while possible, is difficult.
Relative saltiness can be rated by comparison to a dilute salt solution.
The sourness of a substance can be rated by comparing it to very dilute hydrochloric acid (HCl).
Sweetness is subjectively measured by comparing the threshold values, or level at which the presence of a dilute substance can be detected by a human taster, of different sweet substances. Substances are usually measured relative to sucrose, which is usually given an arbitrary index of 1 or 100. Fructose is about 1.4 times sweeter than sucrose; glucose, a sugar found in honey and vegetables, is about three-quarters as sweet; and lactose, a milk sugar, is one-half as sweet.
Read more about this topic: Tangy
Famous quotes containing the words measuring, relative and/or tastes:
“As an example of just how useless these philosophers are for any practice in life there is Socrates himself, the one and only wise man, according to the Delphic Oracle. Whenever he tried to do anything in public he had to break off amid general laughter. While he was philosophizing about clouds and ideas, measuring a flea’s foot and marveling at a midge’s humming, he learned nothing about the affairs of ordinary life.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“Are not all finite beings better pleased with motions relative than absolute?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A divided orange tastes just as good.”
—Chinese proverb.