Amino Acids in Foods
Different amino acids have different types of tastes. A combination of different amino acids along with their different tastes actually determines the final taste of the food. Amino acids like phenylalanine, tyrosine, arginine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, methionine and histidine have bitter taste, glycine, alanine, threonine, proline, serine, and glutamine have sweet taste and glutamate and aspartic acid have sour or umami taste. Hence the taste we obtain from a particular food chiefly depends on the quantity and types of amino acids present in that particular food.
Amino Acids and Vine-Ripened Tomatoes
The taste of the tomato chiefly depends on two amino acids, aspartic acid and glutamate. These two amino acids must be present in appropriate ratio, aspartic acid to glutamate as 1:4, in order to make the taste best. Apart from amino acids, the taste of the tomato is dependent on amount of sugar and organic acid. When the plant is placed under direct sunlight, the amino acids content raises at the time of red-ripening procedure. If glutamate is eliminated from the tomato, the taste of the tomato will be no different than an apple.
Amino Acids and Sea Urchin and Crab
The bitterly tasted arginine is responsible for sea-food taste. On the other hand, glutamate brings the taste of a crab and this makes you feel like you are eating a crab. Amino acids have a miraculous power to change the flavor and it is proved if you consider the example of a sea urchin. It consists of specifically five types of amino acids and among them all methionine is responsible for the bitterly flavor. Methionine is the key component responsible for the taste of the sea urchin. If you eliminate it, the sea urchin will taste like a crab and nothing more than that.Amino Acids and Fermented Foods
During fermentation process, proteins are demeaned to amino acids resulting in different types of flavors. When you preserve any food by fermentation process, you will get highly enriched flavors at the end. Admitted, proteins do not have any taste of their own, but when they are degraded to fermented products, it comprises of prolific tastes. In fact, when you blend different types of amino acids, it basically expands the possibilities of having a wide array of flavors.