Why Some Fruits Sweet While Others is Sour?

            Some fruits like watermelons, guavas, grapes, apples, mangoes, etc. are sweet in taste while lemons, oranges, raw mangoes, etc. are sour. Each fruit has a distinct taste, which differs in some way from the taste of others fruits. The question arises- why does every fruit have a characteristic taste?

Sweet Fruits

Sour Fruits

            In fact, the taste of a fruit depends on the compounds present in it. In general, a fruit contains fructose natural sugar, organic acids, vitamins, starch, proteins, minerals and cellulose. All these are in a mixed state inside the fruit and are found in different proportions. Fruits having more fructose content taste sweeter, while those having more acids, taste sour. Orange is a fruit, which has almost equal quantities of fructose and acids; hence it tastes both sweet and sour.

            In general, raw fruits contain more acids but on ripening, the quantity of acid in them decreases and the amount of sugar increases. Hence raw mangoes are sour, but ripe ones are sweet. Raw bananas contain more of starch, but it gets converted into fructose when the fruit ripens.

            During the process of ripening, chemical changes take place inside the fruit by which the quantity of sugar increases thus adding to the sweetness of the fruit.

            We notice a difference of taste in two fruits of the same kind. Two apples or mangoes do not always taste alike. This is so because there are many varieties of the same fruit and also the variations in the quality of soil, climate, growing technique; manure, water, etc. change the proportion of the compounds inside the fruit resulting in the difference of taste.

            Sour fruits like lemons; do not taste sweet even after they are ripe, because of the presence of excessive amounts of acids.