Emily's Food Science 2015/16
Sour is having an acid taste that is like the taste of a lemon. Sour receptors detect the protons (H+) liberated by sour substances. The sensation of sourness is detected by part of the taste bud interaction with the hydrogen ions in the acids. A surprising fact about the sour receptor is it seems to show up in neurons of the spinal cord. The other taste receptors have never affected a different part of the body beside the tongue. This is what has encouraged me to do a project involving how sour affect the neurons in the spinal cord. Sour is a very interesting taste, and I wanted to bring it to life with my interactive demonstration.
We have sour taste receptors, because we use them to detect rotten foods and poison, although we have produced good sour things, such as sour candy. In most sour candy, they use cirtic acid. PKD2L1 is the special protein in our taste buds, but only shows up in sour taste.
Some species can't taste sour. This is why rats willingly eat rat poisoning. Products we eat and drink on a daily basis that doesn't nessisarily taste sour actually has a chemical in them, so the pH level is low. Foods like: yogurt, vinegar, tomatoes, sourdough bread and much more.