How We Taste Food: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter and Umami

Humans recognise five main tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. These taste signals help us identify energy-rich foods and avoid substances that may be harmful. Water is essential for life, but it has no distinct taste. Sweetness usually comes from sugars such as glucose, fructose and sucrose. Sourness comes from acids found in foods such as lemons, limes and vinegar. Saltiness is linked to minerals including sodium and potassium, while bitter foods include caffeine, lemon rind and unsweetened dark chocolate. Umami is the savoury taste associated with protein-rich foods such as meat, cheese, mushrooms and broth. Taste differs widely across animals: humans have about 2,000 to 4,000 taste buds, while catfish can have more than one million taste buds across their bodies. Some animals also experience taste differently. Cats cannot taste sweetness, while several carnivores have lost the ability to detect some tastes found in humans.

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