In article ,
David Rance wrote:

You are probably a non-taster. Bitterness can be tasted by less
than half of the UK population, apparently, though it seems to be
more common among the people I know. The others taste it in the
same way as sourness. If you regard lemon juice as more bitter
than grapefruit juice, or can counteractness bitterness with sugar,
you are a non-taster.

Many, many people describe something as bitter when it is, in reality,
sour. Apples, for instance. There *are* bitter apples, for instance most
cider apples, but when someone is trying to explain to me that something
is bitter and I think it is sour, is it because the other person is
unable to tell the difference? That's something that I hadn't heard
before.

It's fairly well-known among the appropropriate biomedical people.
There are tests for some of the more common genetic causes. Try
gurgling 'bitter tasting test'.

And what do we mean by sour? Sour milk is not the same as a sour apple
..... or is it?

No, because the acids are different, and taste different. Neither is
bitter.

Confused!! I know what *I* mean but does anyone else?

Oh, yes. But it's sufficiently complicated that you need to be a bit
of an expert to work out what is going on. I don't claim to be, but
I know more than most people about this.

Incidentally, to a strong bitter-taster, grapefruit are BOTH bitter
AND sweet, and sugar does not mask bitterness. Salt does, to some
extent, as do the buffering molecules in beer. Lemon, on the other
juice hand, is almost entirely sour (because it contains almost no
sugar), but the peel is bitter.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.