Learning about extra virgin olive oil > Quality > Sensory analysis > Taste

The sense of taste identifies four basic flavours – salt, sweet, sour (or acidic) and bitter.
The sense of taste resides in the taste buds; our mouth is able to recognise the taste of foods because of the presence, on its surface, of these particular structures which are distributed over the mucous membrane of the oral cavity, but they are especially abundant on the taste buds of the tongue.

There are four different types of taste buds: fungiform, filiform, circumvallate and foliate which have different sensory functions and varying numbers of taste buds. The four fundamental gustative receptors are not uniformly distributed on the tongue, so some areas of the tongue are more sensitive than others to any particular sensation.

The tip of the tongue, rich in fungiform buds, is particularly stimulated by “sweet” substances; filiform buds are more numerous along the sides, which preponderantly perceive “salt” sensations.

Behind these, the foliate buds enjoy “sour”, while the base of the tongue, rich in circumvallate buds, has the greatest reaction in the presence of “bitter” substances. From early infancy to adulthood, the number of taste buds tends to diminish progressively; normally an adult has around 2000. From this rapid presentation it is possible to understand that due to the presence of a greater or lesser number of taste buds and their different distribution the sensory ability of each of us may vary considerably.
We can all run; but only a few of us are able to run 100 metres in under 10 seconds!!!

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