ABSTRACT
Non-volatile or taste compounds are water-soluble; these can cause salty, sour or acid, bitter, sweet, umami, and hot or cool sensations. Salty taste is caused by the presence of inorganic salts as sodium or potassium chloride, together with monosodium glutamate and monosodium aspartate. Sweetness is produced by sugars (glucose, fructose, ribose) and some L-amino acids (glycine, alanine, serine, threonine, lysine cysteine, methionine, asparagine, glutamine, proline and hydroxyproline). Bitter tastes are generally caused by hypoxanthine, peptides such as anserine and carnosine, and the L-amino acids histidine, arginine, lysine, methionine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, tyrosine, asparagine and glutamine. While sour and acid tastes are caused by organic acids (lactic acid, and acetic acid), amino acids (aspartic acid, glutamic acid, histidine and asparagine) and acidic phosphates. Hot and cool sensations or trigeminal responses do not contribute to the flavor of unprocessed foods, but addition of spices like chili and pepper usually contributes to the flavor of processed products. Finally, the umami taste has a characteristic savory quality supplied by glutamic acid, monosodium glutamate
monophosphate (IMP) and some other peptides recognized by their flavor-enhancing properties [1, 2].
