2.10. Bitterness

The human palate is very sensitive to the bitter taste which, by itself, is disagreeable but in conjunction with other tastes may contribute significantly to product acceptance.

Bitter is one of the five basic tastes: perceived primarily at the back of the tongue; common to caffeine and quitine.

Caffeine Theobromine

Three major classes of organic compounds encountered in food materials are associated with bitterness: alkaloids (for example caffeine or theobromine), glycosides (for example rutinose, coniferin, naringin, hesperidin), and peptides.

Rutinose Coniferin Naringin Hesperidin

The bitter and sweet taste sensation are frequently associated and may be produced by the same compound at different concentrations. Small changes in structure of some compounds can have a large effects on taste and potency.

Sweet Bitter Aspartame Stereoisomer of aspartame Sweet; also bitter to many individuals Bitter Saccharin   Sweet Bitter Neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (R=disaccharide) Neohesperidin (R=disaccharide) Sweet Sweet; 650 X sucrose Bitter Sucrose Sucralose   Sweet Bitter Sweet + bitter Perillartine