My mother was reminiscing about things we miss from the past. One thing she mentioned was Shocktarts. She loved Shocktarts! One of the few things she indulged in.
Recently, she got my nieces Christmas candy, and it included rainbow sour strips of some kind. Uncharacteristically, she ate a whole pack by herself.
I’d like to get some good sour candies. They have to actually be sour!!! Any recommendations welcome!
Although do note that candys whose main feature is “being sour” then fading after 4 seconds are not what I’m looking for.
Thank you! (:
You want REALLY sour? Buy some citric acid and pour a bit over some wet grapes. Tasty and probably the most sour thing I’ve ever had. Warheads and Toxic Waste candy are not too bad for me, but this makes my jowels sting.
Get some malic acid if you want it to be a different type of sour, or tartaric acid if you want it to be more tart.
Oh actually other suggestions; buy some N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine (Often called NALT), it’s incredibly sour and slightly sweet, once again different from from the fruit acids (malic, citric, tartaric). NALT is a precursor to Tyrosine an amino acid. You need only the tiniest amount on the tongue to get the affect. The sourness is from the acetyl group, and I think the slight sweetness is from the tyrosine/or the complete structure, as related compounds are used as artificial sweeteners.
Just to be pedantic, the acidity doesn’t come from the acetyl group - - it comes from the tyrosine, an amino acid.
Hmm, that’s interesting but IIRC Tyrosine itself isn’t all that sour when tasted, nor are really any other amino acids I can think of aside from possibly Taurine, I assumed it was a small amount of hydrolysis of the acetyl group was occurring to enable the taste difference, but if you’ve got some more context I’d love to hear it
The acetyl group (-COCH₃) is not acidic itself. The amino acid has both an acidic -COOH group and a basic primary amine (-NH₂) group, but in the compound the primary amine becomes a secondary amine (-NH-), who basicity will depend on surrounding atoms. (If you look at a structural diagram of the compound, the only hydrogen atom it can realistically lose to have acidity is on the -COOH.)
Sounds like the heroin of sour. I need a hit.
To make the grapes even better, freeze them with the citric acid. It makes an awesome treat.
I’m down. Thanks!