MadSci Network: General Biology
Query:

Re: why does vinegar in salad dressing taste more salty than the oil?

Date: Tue Oct 14 16:55:31 2003
Posted By: Peter Bosani, Music and Science, McGill University - Continuing Education
Area of science: General Biology
ID: 1065556588.Gb
Message:

Hi, Katie.  The perception of taste can be quite complex.  Adults have 
about 9,000 to 10,000 taste buds.  The 5 basic tastes are:  sweet, sour, 
salty, bitter and umami.  (Umami is a 'meaty flavor' conveyed by the amino 
acid - glutamate.)  Food itself is composed of complex chemical mixtures 
and rarely do we encounter any of the basic taste sensations in 
isolation.  The perception of taste can be contradictory, that is, what 
can taste sweet to one may be sour to another, or, a food may seem 
delicious for some while others find it repugnant.  Apart from these 
idiosyncrasies let me tell you what I think you are perceiving.
Vinegar itself is most definetly sour due to its acetic acid content, 
usually about 5.6%, the rest being mostly water.  The word itself comes 
from the French for 'vin aigre' for sour wine.  Vinegar readily takes up 
any flavor, including salt.  Although fats carry flavor fats themselves 
are odorless and tasteless.  Neither fat or vinegar contain sodium and 
essentially no protein.  
You don't mention which salad dressing you use but in general commercial 
salad dressings are high in sodium.  The most basic salad dressing is 
vinaigrette which is a combination of oil and vinegar, to which salt, 
pepper and optionally other spices are added.  It turns out that salt 
dissolves in vinegar but not in oil.  Finally, chemically the reaction of 
an acid and a base forms salt and water.
So if your taste buds are acute enough you may end up detecting a salty 
taste in the vinegar.  Hope this helps.
For more information on taste and food go to:  www.monell.org
My own reference was also from the 'Oxford Companion to Food' by Alan 
Davidson.


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