The taste of sucrose and citric acid mixed with ethanol: changes in intensity and duration

M. GUIRAO, E. GRECO DRIANÓ, D. EVIN, E. ZUNINO.

Tokio, Japón

Conferencia; Twenty Third Annual Meeting of the International Society for Psychophysics "Fechner Day 2007; 2007

Kyushu University, Shizuoka Institute of Technology, University of Toronto

 Two concentrations (8% and 15 %) of ethanol were combined with three concentrations(135, 303 and 683 mM) of sucrose and three of (5, 15 and 45 mM) of citric acid. As prompted by a computer ten trained panelists assessed intensity/time responses to sweetnessand sourness. Mixed and unmixed solutions of the same taste were evaluated, in triplicate, in the same experiment. Maximum intensity, plateau time for maximum intensity, total time and area were extracted from response curves. Ethanol enhanced all four sweetness properties.The amount of increment decreased with concentration. Responses were no significantly affected by increasing addition of ethanol. Persistence was more clearly augmented than the other attributes. The effect on sourness was different for each one of the concentrations. When the weak sample was tasted all four dimensions increased with ethanol. At the moderate concentration sourness was suppressed by the median 8% level but was enhanced with 15% ethanol. At the strong concentration, intensity and area of the two mixed solutions were depressed but duration was not affected. Results suggest that interaction between gustatory and ethanol compounds produce intensity, temporal and qualitative changes in the perceived taste magnitude.