Why do lemons have a bitter, tangy taste?!
Why do lemons have a bitter, tangy taste?
chemical composition
Answers: it is because lemons are citrus fruits which contain citric acid. If you look up citric acids, you can see that:
Citric acid is a weak organic acid found in citrus fruits. It is a natural preservative and is also used to add an acidic (sour) taste to foods and soft drinks. Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/citric_acid... Citric Acid citric acid no its becos they are acidic they have citric acid and other various natural acids in them citric acid theyre very acidic, citris acid :) bitter? You may have one that too old or not ripe yet.Or you have a inmature lime. they are divorced female oranges. they are an acid. it would be 1 on the ph scale. it goes 1 to 14. 14 being water. most acids do have that tangy bitterness. Lemons contain significant amounts of citric acid; this is why they have a low pH and a sour taste. A lemon is bitter due to it's high acidity. In actuality, a lemon contains more sugar than an orange, which tastes sweet.
Cheers :-) Citric acid. From an evolutionary standpoint, I suspect that the adaptive significance is that the strong acid causes the digestive systems of animals who eat a whole lemon to excrete it (including the seeds) before the digestive system destroys the seeds. Thus the seeds get propagated. definitely the citric acid. just like most of the citrus family.