5 Flavors of Taste
Taste, along with smell (olfaction) and trigeminal nerve stimulation (registering texture, pain, and temperature), determines flavors of food or other substances. Humans have taste receptors on taste buds (gustatory calyculi) and other areas including the upper surface of the tongue and the epiglottis. The sensation of taste can be categorized into five basic tastes: sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness, and umami. Taste buds are able to differentiate among different tastes through detecting interaction with different molecules or ions. While there are only five universally recognized basic tastes – sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami (savory) – the number of food smells is unbounded. A food's flavor, therefore, can be easily altered by changing its smell while keeping its taste similar. The sensation of taste can be categorized into five basic tastes: sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness, and umami. Flavor depends on odor, texture, and temperature as well as on taste. Humans receive tastes through sensory organs called taste buds, or gustatory calyculi, concentrated on the upper surface of the tongue. There are five basic tastes: sweet, bitter, sour, salty and umami. The doctrine of the five flavors has a long and distinguished history in Chinese food culture. The four of the five flavors are: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. These elements of taste are recognized by the science of taste in the West. But the five tastes are just the basis of flavor. Smell plays an even larger role in the overall sensation of taste. There appears to be more than a thousand types of scent receptors that take the five primary taste receptors and greatly varies the flavors we can discern. Of the three chemical senses, smell is the main determinant of a food item's flavor. While there are only five universally recognized basic tastes – sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami (savory) – the number of food smells is unbounded. Taste is the sensation produced when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with receptors of taste buds. Taste, along with smell (olfaction) and trigeminal nerve stimulation (which also handles touch for texture, also pain, and temperature), determines flavors, the sensory impressions of food or other substances. There are five basic tastes: sweet, bitter, sour, salty and umami. Other tastes such as calcium[6][7] and free fatty acids[8] may be other basic tastes but have yet to receive widespread acceptance. Taste, gustatory perception, or gustation[1] is one of the five traditional senses.
Sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness, and umami.