What makes food that are rich in vitamin C sour?
In: Chemistry
Vitamin C is Ascorbic acid. And acids taste sour. So things with lots of vitamin c will taste sour.
Vitamin C – ascorbic acid – is itself fairly sour tasting.
It’s often found in citrus fruits which contain a lot of citric acid, which is even more obnoxiously sour.
In addition to ascorbic acid, fruits contain other acids, like citric acid and malic acid.
As others have said, acids taste sour.
But don’t forget that broccoli, kale, and snow peas also contain vitamin c and they are not particularly sour tasting.
Steve Mould does a pretty good video on this, along with the other types of taste.
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