In order to obtain more knowledge about the chemistry of sour
taste, a specially-designed sensory tasting test was conducted. In
this tasting test, the intensity of sour taste from sodium acetate
solutions of 50, 100, and 150 mg/l was assessed, along with the
intensity of sour taste from acetic acid solutions of 50, 100, and
150 mg/l. The results are shown in Fig. 1. It can be clearly seen
from Fig. 1 that all the sodium acetate solutions had no sour taste
although they all contained anionic acetic acid species (AC1).
However, all the solutions of acetic acid had an evident sour taste,
and the intensity of sour taste increased as the concentration of all
acetic acid species became elevated.
The reasons for the difference in sour taste between sodium
acetate and acetic acid solutions can be speculated from the differences
in composition between sodium acetate and acetic acid