Difference Between Bitter and Sour | Bitter Vs Sour

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Paper : Food and Drinks Differences FAQs | Platform : Vs or Differences FAQs | Category : General FAQs

The tongue is a sense organ that helps in identifying the taste of the food that we eat with the help of taste receptor cells. We normally identify sweet, sour, bitter and umami(a taste in protein-rich food).

Sour means, it has an acidic ph of (0 to 7)and bitter means alkaline ph of (7 to 14).

What is Bitter?

Of all the five basic taste bitter is considered the most sensitive and is often considered as unpleasant.

Bitter melon, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, dandelion greens, peels of citrus fruits are examples of bitterness. Apart from this coffee and some chocolates also have a bitter taste.

Advantages of consuming Bitter Food:

  • Helps in cleansing and detoxifying the liver
  • Reduces craving for food
  • Rich in minerals and vitamins
  • Helps in activating taste buds and increase enzyme production and bile flow which helps in digestion

What is Sour?

Sourness and acidity can often be associated together. We find sour taste in food such as orange, lemon, tamarind, vinegar, gooseberries, Kimchi, Yogurt.

Sourness depends on the amount of organic acid the food contains.

Advantages of consuming Sour Food:

  • Increases  our appetite
  • Increases nutrition absorption in our body
  • Food like yoghurt and buttermilk are also probiotic in nature
  • Tamarind for example has a lot of medicinal properties

Bitter Vs Sour

                              Bitter

                                        Sour

Refers to the sharp pungent taste

Refers to acidic taste

Quite unpleasant taste

Not so unpleasant

Some examples are bitter gourd, olive, peel of orange and coffee etc

Examples oranges, lemon, vinegar etc

Helps to detoxify the body

Increases mineral absorption

Bitterness is due to a chemical compound called quinine

Sourness is mainly due to the presence of organic acids in our food