Are there similar scales like the Scoville scale?
Are there any scales that have been applied to any of the five basic tastes or other types of food sensations that have been quantified based on their affect on people, similar to the Scoville scale?
Sure you could say that people's experience of something like sweetness is subjective, but you could say the same thing about spiciness.
Best Answer
Yes, and Wikipedia has a brief summary of these scales (with some further details in other portions of the article and the links).
Basically, at least four of the five recognized primary "tastes" have a reference compound that other foods are compared to subjectively. For sweetness, a solution containing the test compound is diluted until sweetness can barely be detected by a human taster (similar to the Scoville scale). Sucrose is given the reference value of 1 (or sometimes 100). Sourness is similarly rated in comparison to a dilute hydrochloric acid solution, saltiness is rated in comparison to a dilute table salt (sodium chloride) solution, and bitterness is rated relative to a dilute quinine solution. (I've not heard of any similar scale for umami.)
In most cases, the reference compound is given a value of 1. The most common way to reference these scales is as the "[taste] index," as in "Citric acid has a value of 0.46 on the sourness index," which means it has to be diluted slightly less than half of how much hydrochloric acid would be for it to be on the threshold of human sourness detection.
(By the way, while these scales show us something, they are mostly useful for comparing single pure substances. For culinary purposes, their value is somewhat limited by the complex interactions among various tastes and flavor components. Even individual substances can change flavor depending on environment: for example, a complex molecule may taste relatively neutral at neutral pH, but with increased acid and thus sourness, it may acquire a salty flavor.)
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Is there a sour scale?
Simply put, SUs between 0-40 can be considered low sourness; 41-75 medium sourness; and 76+ can be considered a high level of sourness.Is there a spicy scale?
The Scoville scale is a tool for measuring the spiciness or pungency of hot peppers. The scale measures the amount of capsaicin (the chemical compound that causes spicy heat) in a pepper and assigns it a number rating in Scoville Heat Units (SHUs).What is a Scoville unit equal to?
Scoville heat units, also known as SHU is simply a measurement of the number of times capsaicin needs to be diluted by sugar-water. The number of Scoville Heat Units (SHU) in a pepper or even hot sauce indicates the amount of capsaicin present. The higher the Scoville rating, the hotter the pepper.What is the sour scale called?
In food science, these basic reference scales are generally used with rating tools known as Magnitude Estimation and the Labeled Magnitude Scale. I think the Scoville scale is more widely known because foods can achieve very high values.Scoville Scale Explained : The Measurement Of Chilli Pepper Hotness
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Answer 2
Your example of sweetness reminded me of degrees brix: the sugar content of an aqueous solution. Might this be an example of what you are seeking? Not sure I can come up with anything close for other tastes...
Answer 3
There is a scale known as the pyruvate scale that measures the pungency of onions and garlic
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