The sense of taste (also gustatory from the Latin gustare = to taste) serves to control the ingested food. Like smell, it is one of the chemical senses. In a broader sense, the sensation of taste is a complex interaction of the gustatory (tasting) sense of taste and the olfactory (smelling) sense of smell. This is further complemented by tactile or trigeminal tactile, pain and temperature information from the oral cavity. The latter includes, for example, the sensations of sharp (hot) and astringent (effect of tannin-rich red wines, which should not be confused with bitter ). In a narrower sense, however, taste consists of relatively few different flavours absorbed via the tongue and partly also via the pharyngeal mucosa.
For a long time, only four tastes were known, namely bitter, salty, sour and sweet. In the 1990s, umami (also meaty, savoury, savoury) was defined and scientifically recognised as the fifth taste. Finally, in 2011, the existence of receptors for fat and thus fatty as a possible sixth flavour was established in humans. Other possible taste qualities under discussion are "water" (tastes "like nothing" in pure form), metallic and alkaline. The perception of a taste substance depends differently on the quantity depending on the substance and is called the perception threshold (limit).
The receptor cells for taste are arranged...
Serious sources on the internet are rare - and Wine lexicon from wein.plus is one such source. When researching for my articles, I regularly consult the wein.plus encyclopaedia. There I get reliable and detailed information.
Thomas Götz
Weinberater, Weinblogger und Journalist; Schwendi