Eli5: Why do small baby grapes taste sour compared to regular sized grapes?
In: Biology
The sourness is from the acidity, As a fruit mature and “ripens”, the acidity changes because there’s additional sugar, which gives the impression of less sourness. As fruits ripen, they convert starches to sugar due to the presence of ethylene gas, which makes them sweeter.
As to evolutionary why, Grapes are not tasty for the sake of being tasty, Its because sweeter grapes have a higher chance to be consumed and thus higher chance of the seed being carried to a location to grow into a new vine aka, reproduction.
you don’t want matured seed to be eaten because it wont grow. but matured seeds will, hence why ripened fruit are generally sweet and underage fruit are sour.
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