The medicinal actions of taste
Recognized by the traditional medical systems of the world, tastes are an important indicator of the actions or effects exerted by food, herbs, and other medicinal substances.
Traditional medical systems of the world recognize the sense of taste that different flavors elicit is directly connected to the way we feel and perform. By identifying the flavors elicited from consuming specific chemical constituents of food or medicinal substances, we are then able to support and even restore our current state of being.
Enabling taste, the saliva delivers the chemical constituents of food, herbs, and other medicinal substances to receptors (G-protein Receptors (GPCRs)) of the taste buds, where Transient Receptor Potentials (TRPs) tell our body how to respond. Essentially, saliva, GPCRs, & TRPs give us the ability to perceive flavor and sense our food.
When it comes to the body, “soma” and our ability to experience sensation, “sensorius”: the tongue is a somatosensory (touch, temp, pain) and special sense (flavors) organ that channels signals to the tasting (gustatory) center and processing (somatic) divisions of the brain (de Araujo, I., Simon, S. 2009).
The tongue itself is a skeletal muscle, and a unique muscle at that. In that it has three-dimensional muscle fibers (front to back, top to bottom, & from the sides to the middle), giving it great agility. With this movement comes a sort of squeezing or milking of the sublingual glands that secretes saliva, which not only aids digestion but also the ability to perceive flavors (N. Menche, W.K. Wörterbuch, et al. 2016).
The flavors perceived and sensations felt from the front of the tongue and palate get transmitted via a special facial (7th) nerve, while the root of the tongue and posterior oral cavity (pharynx, larynx, & epiglottis) get transmitted via the glossopharyngeal (9th) or vagal (10th) nerves (de Araujo, I., Simon, S. 2009).
There are several thousand of these receptors along the gastrointestinal tract, which various flavors initiate a response (A. Ebneshahidi n.d.). For example, chemoreceptors sense the presence of glucose, fatty acids, and mineral content, amongst others (AlJulaih GH, Lasrado S. 2020). Nociceptors sense irritants and tissue damage (Simon, S.A., & de Araujo, I.E. 2005), while thermoreceptors detect temperature (R. Madrid, M. Pertusa 2014). All of which stimulate the neural paths of the former, whether it be enjoyable or toxic.
Presumably an adaptation that’s most likely a survival mechanism, as sampling a substance to inform the organism before its full ingestion. For example, if a flavor elicits an irritating response, it most likely is a noxious substance that is unfit for its consumption and may cause a gage reflex. Conversely, the flavor of foods radically influences why people select certain foods for enjoyment (Avena NM, Rada P, et al., 2006). The acquired and appreciated flavors of food and herb also depend on previous consumption and the amount of moisture in the substance consumed (M. Hutchins, 2001).
As important as taste is, unfortunately, many people take their taste ability for granted. You know the common aphorism of if it’s enjoyable, “You have a taste for it.” This does not mean excessively. Studies show that these contact senses may be adaptive, and repetitive stimulation down-regulates the sense to a particular molecule and vice versa. For example, if you were to lessen your consumption of sugar, such as dextrose, the sensitivity to it would increase. Another way to view this is: the more salt you consume, the more it takes to satisfy that urge (M. Hutchins, 2001). And so moderation along with diversity is key to the true enjoyment of taste.
While others, around 200,000 people yearly, visit the medical community about an impaired ability to perceive taste. There are a number of taste-related disorders like that of hypogeusia (reduced ability), ageusia (inhibited taste), and dysgeusia (a foul, rancid, metallic taste, or a burning sensation) that affect one’s ability to perceive or enjoy different flavors (NIDCD 2014).
There are numerous reasons behind these and others. As an example, a prostatic appliance like that of dentures or a flipper that partially covers the palate compromises sensory input. Or those traversing oral cancer, as the treatment may reduce the lingual papillae and atrophy the salivary glands. Autoimmunity like Sjogren’s and Hashimoto’s disease, or conditions such as hypothyroidism, diabetes, and renal failure (M. Hutchins 2001) may also affect taste perception.
Furthermore, some medications, chemicals, insecticides, and radiation therapies also potentially inhibit taste (NIDCD 2014). Several drugs have side effects of reducing salivary output, causing xerostomia (dry mouth). Moreover, as we age, the oral papillae numbers and turnover rate decrease; some nutrient deficiencies may also impair taste (M. Hutchins 2001). Poor gut health and poor oral hygiene also affect the sense of taste (NIDCD 2014), as does odor.
Aside from the influence odor has on taste perception. Taste is intimately connected to the various systems of the body, most notably Qi, the Blood, Heart, and the gastrointestinal system. It is through the sense of taste (perceived or not) that the body, primarily the digestive tract and its organs, recognizes what digestive juices to secrete, that aid in digestion and elimination of the ingested substances (HA n.d.).
When discussing the multitude of outcomes that result from the various flavors, the concepts of the world’s traditional medical systems on physiology and pathology vary slightly from system to system.
Collectively, we are able to view the various flavors or tastes as building and anabolic, to cleansing and catabolic. Influencing tissue growth and formation, to facilitating waste removal and tissue degeneration. From a clear and apparent standpoint, the tastes: sweet, bland /unctuous, salty, sour, pungent /acrid, bitter, and astringent are rather easily perceived.
As for the worldly traditions, we will cover Unani-Tibb, Ayurvedic, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). First, some basis: these traditions recognize our physiological makeup through qualitative windows. For example, if something is hot, it has the primary quality of heat. This quality, as well as others, mediates various physiological responses. For example, if something is hot, it has the propensity to also be stimulating, as in the case of spices and catabolism.
Furthermore, these qualities and physiological responses exert additional or secondary qualitative actions as well. Collectively, these qualities are often referred to as the “energetic force”. For example, if something has the quality of heat, its energetic force is also drying, such as in the case of saturated fats and cartilage degeneration.
Moreover, the former is also viewed in degrees and polarities. For example, hot things may have varying levels of heat, and the opposition of hot, and its level of heat, is cold, and its degree of coolness.
Ultimately, these windows are elemental representations that reveal what Unani calls the “4 Humors”, Ayurveda calls “7 Dhatus”, and in TCM, “Three treasures”, essentially the basis for tissue formation. Which, in the end, typifies our psychological makeup otherwise known as our “Eucrasia” according to Unani, “Vikriti” in Ayurvedic terms, and Qi in TCM.
According to Unani, there are eight tastes, two for each of the four humors (D. Osborn, 2018). Ayurvedic tradition encompasses three doshas in which there are six rasa (tastes), two for each. According to TCM, Wu Xíng embodies 5 tastes which correspond to five elements and the organ systems they have an affinity for. All of which are derived from the elements of nature. Particularly; Fire, Air, Water, & Earth in Greek, while Ayurveda includes Ether, and TCM Metal.
Considering the scientific perspective of herbalism, the actions ie. the physiological responses that result from food, herbs, and other medicinal substances, are attributed to the active constituents held by the substance and determine the medicinal effects of a substance or formulation. Which means there may also be, let’s say, hidden qualities and virtues that are not so easily perceived in relation to a substance’s clear and apparent flavors of sweet, bland / unctuous, salty, sour, pungent / acrid, bitter, and astringent.
Starting with sweet, we must ascribe nutrition to the taste that is sweet. The sweetness informs us that the substance is nutritious; as is the case with the three categories of sweet: sweet, bland, and unctuous / umami, which relate to the macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins), thus encouraging consumption.
Cn + H2O + n → Sweet Taste
Sweet has a chemical composition of Cn(H2O)n, otherwise known as carbohydrates, and contains hydrogen and oxygen. Sugar, put simply, is glucose, fructose, and sucrose, which is determined by the number of carbon atoms in the sugar rings. These phytonutrients are primary plant metabolites and make up monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides, commonly found in fruits, roots, tubers, and rhizomes (S. Dharmananda 2010). Sweet foods include melons, stone fruits, seeds, and various potatoes, e.g., monk fruit, wolfberry, bananas, yams, sweet potatoes, beets, skirret, and the like. (Tap For a better understanding of the chemical structures of sugars, please look at H.R. article on macronutrients)
Sweet varies in its form, as with Arhat (Siraita grosvenorii) fruit, containing the triterpene glycoside mogroside. High amounts are held within the flesh of this fruit, which accounts for its sweet taste (Wang, Bin & Yang, Zhou & Xin et al. 2019). Another example is licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) root, which is about fifty times sweeter than sugar, is accreted by the glycyrrhizic acid it contains (Omar, Hesham R et al. 2012). Not exclusively or entirely, many of the sweet foods and herbs exert emollient, demulcent, immunomodulant, refrigerant, nutritive, tonic, and adaptogenic actions (HA n.d.).
Sweet tends to be temperate to cooling, softening, moistening, nourishing, restorative, harmonizing, calming / sedating, anabolic, and building (HA n.d.). As mentioned in the H.R. article on macromolecules, many sweet substances before modern industrialism were primarily utilized for their medicinal actions. Take, for example, sweet complex carbohydrates hold water, aid bowel activity, and support immune function. Throat lozenges and cough syrups utilize the sugars to soothe irritated mucous membranes. In TCM, sweet is commonly used as part of sedative formulas (S. Dharmananda 2010). While in moderation, its adaptogenic-like quality tends to invigorate basic energy, while simultaneously calming agitation. Though in excess, it creates a type of damp-laxity.
From a Greek perspective, sweetness is appealing and euphoric. Thus encompassing the attractive virtue of the sanguine temperament. The breakdown and transport of sweet solutes begin with saliva and the ptyalin enzymes that are held within it. Which are also of a sanguine nature, as the wetness facilitates its flow and the warmth of the amylase initiates its dissolution. Internally, it quickly absorbs caloric energy, providing ignis or thermal energy for cellular metabolism (D. Osborn 2018). In excess, sweet becomes cooling (fattening) and stifles metabolic heat.
In the realm of Ayurvedic tradition and practice, sweet rasā may be considered cool, smooth, soft, heavy, and dense. Derived from the earth and water elements, it composes the kapha dosha. Thought to calm, potentially decrease the pitta (warm & moist) dosha, while increasing, possibly aggravating kapha. Since sweet is cooling and building, it is affiliated with the seasons summer and fall, which implies this taste is good for preparation of the coming season. Sweet, fresh, juicy, and nourishing foods such as fruits supply energy without being taxing, allied with a heightened state of consciousness. The essence or sattva that is sweet derives love, harmony, goodness, and virtue, as such promotes clarity, perception, and intelligence (HA n.d.).
Refined sugars are extremely sweet and may be related to throwing gasoline on a fire, although let’s keep in mind that the flame that blazes with the gas tends to dwindle just as quickly. Excessive consumption of the sweet taste is like stifling the body’s agni (digestive fire) and metabolism. With overconsumption, the sweetness has the ability to build up morbid levels, creating a superfluity, as in diabetes, SIBO, dysbiosis, even recurring UTIs. (HA n.d.).
When it comes to TCM, sweets are associated with the earth element, seasonal transition, the color yellow, the spleen or yin organ, and the stomach or yang organ, which all revolve around absorption of nutrients. Sweet is soothing (reducing irritation) and generates fluid (balancing qi). These sweet tastes exhibit restorative / tonic actions within the body, neutralizing toxic effects of other substances; therefore, they are a common harmonizer in herbal formulas (HA n.d.).
Mildly sweet is bittersweet, aka bland, and is a subcategory of sweet. This subcategory is not carried with the emphasis as the four elements in Traditional Greek Medicine, or the five systematic correspondences of Traditional Chinese Medicine, nor the six rasā according to Ayurvedic Tradition.
Bland tastes tend to be more diuretic and therefore drain accumulated dampness, while exhibiting more of a moderate and temperate thermal quality than sweet. This taste is free from any roughness or harshness and still exerts a softening, demulcent, and emollient force upon the body. Legumes, oats, grains, and mushrooms, for example, are mildly sweet or bland in taste. Traditional Asian cuisine of rice and starches has exceptionally mild sweetness or is bland in taste.
The third category of sweet, the taste that is unctuous in Greek tradition, or umami of TCM. More of a sensation, bland and umami go hand in hand. In that unctuous and umami are pleasant tasting and savory, they are commonly coined “comfort foods.” Often considered rich, oily, or fatty, they signify the presence of fatty acids and proteins. Unctuous umami dishes usually include broths, soups, stews, and viands (S. Dharmananda 2010).
Unctuous tastes like fats and oils are bland; this taste elicits the sensation of lubrication, slipperiness, and coating, which is soft, smooth, and yet again is free of all roughness and harshness. These qualities not only reside in the mouth but have the same influence upon the entire body. Supporting malleability and mobility, making the skin and hair supple while also freeing up movement for bodily articulation. The thermal quality is neutral to warming and is also very anabolic and building metabolically. These aspects make unctuous foods good for supporting those of the melancholic and vata (cold / dry ) constitution as it’s soothing and subsides aggravations of the nervous humor (D. Osborn 2018).
Mrs. De la Forêt teaches (2019) that the Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda in the early nineteenth century was the first to use the term Umami. Unctuous, umami dishes like rich meats and animal fats build (produce) blood and have the propensity to unduly thicken it, leading to stagnation and morbidity, contributing to metabolic excess like gout, high cholesterol, and hypertension. Moreover, an excess also has the likelihood of clogging the spleen, liver, arteries, and other vessels (D. Osborn 2018) of the body, contributing to situations of migraine, menorrhagia, arthritis, and even interstitial cystitis.
Oftentimes, the “salty” taste calls to certain people; this may be in relation to the body’s inherent attempt to vitalize fluids, restore mineral depletions, or aid in taste perception. Being that salty and sour are akin, the desire may be for sour rather than salty. In any case, sodium chloride (i.e. table salt, & “artisan salts” like Himalayan or black salt) is only one of the mineral salts, and an excess of it will instigate an imbalance such as edema, swelling, bile obstruction, and even hypertension.
The aspects of salty flavors are of a different nature than that of the Western perspective. More so, the other traditional systems view the flavor that is salty, with a wide range of minerals rather than solely sodium (P. Rupérez 2002). Take, for instance, licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) root containing glycyrrhizin, which represents the mixture of mineral salts that partially account for the medicinal aspects of this herb (Omar, Hesham R et al. 2012).
Sodium or not, mineral salts elicit a substantial influence on fluid metabolism, promoting retention via osmotic pressure and exerting a moistening quality that softens hardened tissues. Moreover, salty flavors also restore mineral depletion within the skin, hair, teeth, and bones (M. Tierra 2017). Not exclusively or entirely, many of the salty foods and herbs are considered nutritive, building, restorative, balancing, tonic, resolving, and draining (HA n.d.).
Sea veggies (Nori, Sea lettuce, Wakame, etc), Dark leafy greens (Kale, Spinach, Asparagus, etc.) Meats (Oyster, Tuna, Pork, etc.) are all examples of salty foods. (Tap For more information on minerals, please see H.R. article titled “Building Blocks”).
In Greek terms, the salty taste stimulates anabolic activity and embodies the choleric qualities of heat and dryness. Drying, you say? Yes, dryness attracts and holds moisture like a sponge, lending to its ability to dissolve lumps and soften hardness. Look at it this way: with the salty consumption comes thirst, and like the sponge, the body retains that fluid. This type of moistening quality has the potential to aggravate the phlegmatic and blood humors (D. Osborn 2017).
In Ayurvedic practices, salty rasā corresponds to warmth and moisture, which are asserted with the fire and water elements, making this rasā allied with the pitta (warm / moist) dosha. The salty rasā is the energetic foundation of balance and transformation. Aligned with the season of autumn, as this is a good time to introduce warming building foods to support the body in preparation for the following season. Thought to calm, potentially decrease vatha (cold / dry), while increasing, possibly aggravating pitta (warm / moist). In excess, its quality can instigate agitation, acidity, hunger, thirst, and insomnia (HA n.d.).
According to TCM, the salty taste is allied with the water element, winter, the kidney or yin organ, and the bladder or yang organ, as well as bone. It’s heavy in weight, therefore, has a downward or descending action. Serving to both nourish and astringe the essence (HA n.d.). The cooling aspects participate in resolving issues by softening hardness, dissolving masses, and removing moisture. On the other side of this polarity lies the warming kidney tonic aspects of the salty taste. In TCM, many of the salty taste of medicinal substances are predominately sourced from animals; a few examples include: antelope horn, cuttlefish bone, deer antler, earthworm, pearl, oyster shell, placenta, pumice, turtle, and tortoise shell, etc. (S. Dharmananda 2010).
Sour taste, the taste that is sour, like salty also embodies minerals, though less so. More evident is its organic acid content, making this flavor more moistening than that of the salty flavor. This flavor is about the most influential when speaking of alkalizing properties. Heavily concentrated in fruits and rinds, organic acids like that of ascorbic acid, citric acid, and malic acid, account for the taste that is sour.
I think most of us are familiar with the sensation that is sour. You know it. Recall after consuming that lemon that one time. It was so sour that your mouth puckered up as if the saliva was almost squeezed out. It was so bad that your ears felt tight. lol 8D…
Sour flavors have a simultaneous or dual-type action within the body. Being astringent, it exerts a retraining, tightening force that binds and tones up loose lax tissues of the body, checking fluid loss and closing pores (S. Dharmananda 2010). While at the same time, sour has an almost immediate action upon saliva and stomach secretions, including other various digestive fluids of the body.
These secretions promote the ripening and flow of bodily fluids. While boosting metabolism, the sour taste improves vital fluids and overall physiological function (D. Osborn 2018). As an example, the acetic acid of vinegar or the tartaric acid of wine are both sour in taste and stimulate digestion and immune function. Red wine and vinegar are both commonly utilized in blood and liver tonic herbal formulas. Not exclusively or entirely, many of the sour foods and herbs are considered astringent, anti-inflammatory, attenuating, hepatic, and tonic (S. Dharmananda 2010). Sour taste is synonymous with sharp, tart, and tangy.
Some sour foods include: Bilimbi, Camu camu, Tamarind, Mume fruit, Citrus fruits, Cranberries, Tart cherries, Grapes, Pickles, and the like.
When it comes to Traditional Greek Medicine, the sour taste is acidic, penetrating, heating, and moistening. Being wet, it’s allied with the phlegmatic temperament, as the heat relates to the choleric temperament. Having a concocting action upon fluid metabolism, it exerts a thinning, expulsive influence on thick, obstinate fluids of the body (D. Osborn 2018).
As for the sour rasā (taste) according to Ayurveda, this flavor has an affinity for the lungs and affects all dhatus or tissues of the body. Divided between sour and astringent, the sour rasā relates with fire & earth (warming & moistening), and is allied with the pitta virya or energy that supports digestion. While the astringent rasā relates with air and earth (cool & drying), it’s cohesive and constricting. The sour taste is a good match for the vata, though not so much for pitta or kapha (HA n.d.).
In the correspondence of TCM, sour taste is associated with coolness and moisture, the wood element, and spring. It is asserted to the Liver and Gallbladder; the Liver itself has taste receptors (B. Ekstrand, J.F. Young, et al. 2017). Sour is also of the sinews, in which it has a moistening and softening force upon them, while decreasing contractions of the tendons and ligaments. The sour flavor boosts malleability, flexibility, and mobility. This taste is also allied with the eyes, and the ethereal soul or hun spirit (S. Dharmananda, 2010).
When thinking of sour, think of the flexibility; ligaments, tendons, synovium, bursa, meniscus, nucleus pulposus, and the like.
After discussing the tastes Sweet, Bland / Unctuous, Salty, and Sour, of Greek, Ayurveda, and TCM, we’ve found ourselves in just about the middle, between the building and anabolic, and the cleansing and catabolic actions of food, herbs, and other medicinal substances.
Five Flavored Berry (Schisandra chinensis)→ Sweet+Salty+Sour+Pungent+Bitter
The taste & sensation that is pungent, aka spicy, is generally the “hottest” of the flavors. Most of us are familiar with the sensation that spices inflict upon the oral cavity, not to mention the whole body, like sweating, eyes tearing up, and sinuses starting to run.
These sensations are typically associated with the low hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of volatile aromatic oils and terpenes (HA., n.d., Hoffmann 2003). Despite the term “aromatic,” it doesn’t necessarily mean that these constituents carry a prominent odor like that of an onion or even a flower. As far as fragrant is concerned, rather than heating and dispersing, fragrant aromatics tend to be moderately warming and invigorating; put simply, they are subtle in comparison to pungent.
Pungent aromatic oils are strongly disinfecting and have an irritating action on the kidneys and lungs, which aids in their expulsion via urination, respiration, and sweating. Their terpene constituents exert antispasmodic effects upon the muscles and mucous linings (HA., n.d., Hoffmann 2003).
Being hot, the pungent taste & sensation is considered the most stimulating to the body and its metabolism. Stoking the digestive fire, pungent flavors boost catabolism, support digestion, and heighten assimilation of food and herbs (M. Tierra 2017). This taste also increases circulation, vivifies blood, invigorates the extracellular fluids, and supports immunity.
The warm, dry, energetic force of pungent is that of a centrifugal nature which thins congealed blood and disperses dampness like that of phlegm congestion and edema (D. Osborn 2018). It works from the interior outward in every direction, as it raises core and peripheral temperatures, it dispels chills and aids in the expulsion of excess cold. This same action opens the vessels and pores of the body, enabling the release of various toxins and superfluities through the exterior (skin) surface (HA n.d.). Pungent examples include mustard seed, garlic, cayenne, ginger, pepper, basil, mint, celery, and the like.
Some hold an ascending energy or force supporting cognition and creativity (M. Tierra 2017). While others have a descending force through the gastrointestinal tract, dispersing epigastric fullness and distention (D. Osborn 2018). Not exclusively or entirely, many of the pungent foods and herbs may be considered stimulating, attenuating, expectorant, diuretic, diaphoretic, analgesic, rubefacient, and adaptogenic (HA n.d.).
Those that never or very rarely consume spices, (black pepper, cinnamon, basil, etc) this may be just what is needed, supporting weight loss, energy formation, immunity, mobility, and a warm periphery, to say the least!
While those that always include spices (Tabasco, Cholula, Sriracha, chili powder, salt, etc.) it may relate with a reduced ability to perceive flavors as the “robustness” fills the gap, which may lend to HBP, inflammation, constipation, dryness, insomnia, and irritability (D. Osborn 2018). The pungent taste is synonymous with hot, spicy, acrid, and piquant.
According to Greek Traditional Medicine, the pungent taste embodies heat and dryness; it’s allied with the choleric temperament and humor. Which elicits a strong stimulating force upon the natural (digestive) faculty and its functions. Being that pungent flavors increase ignis, it improves pepsis, concocts, & attenuates both the blood & phlegmatic humors and brings relief to conditions of fatigue, bloating, distention, high blood sugar, respiratory congestion, and the like. In excess, it has the ability to dissipate the vital force, aggravate the choleric temperament and humor, as well as agitate the melancholic mind (D. Osborn 2018).
In Ayurvedic practices, the pungent rasā is considered light, warm, and dry. Embodying the pitta and vata doshas and their qualities within the body. This is the taste for winter, similar to fall, though the freshness of the vegetation has gone. Leaving the body in need of warming spices. Supporting agni (digestive fire) results in the expulsion of ama (undigested food particulates). The pitta virya or energy of digestion increases the body’s post-digestive outcome of properly assimilating food and herbs. Thought to calm, potentially decrease kapha, while increasing, possibly aggravating pitta (HA n.d.).
With the correspondence of TCM, pungent is more of an acrid taste, although let’s keep in mind that pungent and acrid go hand in hand, which is the next taste.
This taste is a variation of pungent and encompasses most of the former, although it slightly differs in that acrid exhibits a more drying influence while being less heating to the body (D. Osborn 2018).
The taste-like sensations of acrid are sharp, rough, harsh, burning, tingling & numbing. These sensations are associated with a high alkaloid (L. Rose 2020), and alkaloid-like content, essential aromatic oils, which are highly volatile, and alkylamides.
Deeper actions cause the blood vessels to dilate, relaxing surface tissues and muscle (S. Dharmananda 2010). Not exclusively or entirely, many of the acrid herbs may be considered diffusive, dispersing, vivifying, antispasmodic, analgesic, rubefacient, and antimicrobial, much like pungent but more-so loosening in terms of relieving muscle tension and anesthetic to the mucus membranes (think orally or topically) (L. Rose 2020).
According to TCM, acrid is held within the category of surface-relieving medicinal substances, and its flavor is associated with the metal element, autumn, and the Lungs or yin organ. The Lung is the viscera organ that vitalizes Blood and controls the exterior or circulation of Qi.
Acrid also corresponds with the large intestine or yang organ, cutaneous tissue, smell, and corporeal soul or po spirit. It disperses stagnation and warms the body, and increases yang Qi (S. Dharmananda 2010).
Cloves, sichuan pepper, bamboo shoots, valerian root ,gymnema leaf, electric daisies and echinacea are some examples of acrid.
“The most bitter truth is always better than the sweetest lie,” and for the most part, the taste that is bitter ends up being the most cleansing and catabolic of the eight tastes. Notoriously despised, the bitter flavor is well underconsumed and regretfully so!
Great for the stomach, liver, gallbladder, spleen, and pancreas, the bitter flavor restores bowel function, cleans the blood, reduces inflammation, protects the heart and calms the nerves.
The qualities of bitter are cooling, drying, calming, heavy, and descending. Not exclusively or entirely, many of the bitter foods and herbs are considered hepatic, alterative, tonic, cholagogue, choleretic, stomachic, laxative, aperitif, sedative, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory (HA n.d.).
The plant constituents responsible for the bitter taste include sesquiterpenes, monoterpene iridoids, and secoiridoids amongst a number of different types of alkaloids which work in unison and may be termed the “Bitter Principal”. Not so much bitter in principal, a number of glycosides and flavonoids are also quite bitter in taste as well. These secondary plant metabolites account for some of the strong medicinal compounds present in herbal formulas (HA n.d.).
The gastrointestinal tract (mouth, stomach, intestines, liver, etc.) has a family of taste receptors that reside within it and once triggered by the presence of the bitter principal, sets off a cascade of events: from stimulating parasympathetic response and amplifying enzymatic digestive retort to serve in liberation, absorption, metabolism, and excretion (LADME), to pacifying the heart and calming agnation (HA n.d.). This is a great example of reflex responses from a minute stimulus, facilitating a complex set of reactions.
Though most dark green leafy vegetables have an abundance of bitter constituents that reside within them, veggies like endive, radicchio, sugarloaf (borca), artichoke, kale, and gobo have higher concentrations.
Traditional Greek Medicine views the bitter taste as cool & dry, while relating it to the melancholic temperament. Inducing the flow of alkaline enzymes, it cools and soothes inflammation and hyperacidity, cleaning the blood of hot, purulent toxins. In that same effect, it proves to subside aggravations of the choleric temperament. That’s not to say excessive consumption may distemper the melancholic constitution and nervous humor, by decreasing appetite, instigating nausea, and contributing to emaciation, lethargy, and loss of libido (D. Osborn 2018).
In the realm of Ayurvedic practice, the bitter rasā, being cool and dry, associates with the ether & air elements and encompasses the vata dosha. Its activity involves speed, excitement, and is the foundation of movement. This is the taste of spring, a time of cleansing and detoxification from the building foods of the previous season; as such, this taste is the most catabolic. Thought to calm, potentially decrease pitta and kapha, while increasing, possibly aggravating vata (HA n.d.).
As for the correspondence in TCM, the bitter taste is associated with the fire element, summer, and the color red. It’s allied with the Heart system; the Heart is considered the seat of shen or the endowing soul. The heart or cardiovascular system, along with the nervous system, is strongly influenced by the bitter taste of alkaloids and glycosides. Considered to have cooling and cleansing actions that clears heat and toxins, results in a calm mind and ease the heart (S. Dharmananda 2010).
The tongue body not only has numerous taste receptors but is also a reflection of the heart. Moreover, bitter corresponds with the small intestine or yang organ, serving as the downward energy to expel wind, clear heat, and drain moisture. Small amounts are commonly added to herbal formulas to guide the medicinal actions (M. Tierra 2017).
The taste that is astringent, exerting a dry, tightening feel is more of a sensation rather than an actual flavor. This sensation or astringency not only occurs in the mouth but is exerted on all other tissues of the body.
The secondary plant metabolites that derive this taste are primarily tannins, but anthocyanins and some flavonoids also exert a drying & constricting force upon the body as well (HA n.d., Bone & Mills 2013). Many of the astringent foods and herbs may be considered cooling, thickening, cohesive, tightening, retaining, drying, binding, and hardening.
This astringent force constricts all bodily tissues, from the muscle fibers to the nervous tissues. Causing them to become more firm, tight, & dense in structure. As a result, the astringency subdues discharge (think: sweat, diarrhea, tears, etc.), removes morbid, putrefied secretions (think: puss, toxins, waste, etc.), and consolidates excitation (think: spasms, inflammation, butterflies, jitters, etc.).
Put another way, astringent taste firms & tones up tissues, forcing the moisture out, eliminating excess fluids and abnormal secretions from bodily tissues that have become too loose or lax in their structure. Take “cold” temperatures for example: when we get cold, what happens? Our skin gets tight as the vessels close. We also get rather pale in color, and any perspiration typically ceases; this I a prime example of astringency.
Stepping back to astringency and away from cold temps, astringent medicinal substances may be beneficial in most types of hemorrhage internally & externally (W. Fox 1924) as well as laxity, think: gingivitis, enteritis, colitis, hemorrhoids, petechiae, ecchymosis, exudative eczema, cellulitis, etc. (HA n.d.).
Though be warned, in excess or with the incorrect application, the astringency can contribute to undue hardening, or potentially congeal already thick, morbid, and putrefied fluids of the body. Contributing to tension, griping, constipation, immobility, dryness, withering, and emaciation (D. Osborn 2018).
For example, heavy tea (Camellia sinensis) drinkers (e.g. Green, White, Yellow, & Black Tea, Oolong, Matcha, Assam, Sencha, Cambod, etc.), including heavy drinkers of yerba mate, stinging nettle, and raspberry tea, oftentimes end up with constipation, “charley horses”, breathlessness, fatigue, and lethargy, in relation to the astringency.
When considering the traditional prospectives of the taste that is astringent, this taste or rather sensation is coupled with salty, though salty is warming & drying, and sour, though sour is moistening.
Astringent examples include, green banana’s & plantains, apples, pomegranates, cranberries, cinnamon, bay, witch hazel, and the like.
Seasonal Consideration
In addition to the effects each taste exhibits, we also consume in correlation with the time of year. The taste, as mentioned in each section, has an intimate connection with the seasons. Signifying that the associated tastes are aligned with the availability in nature and in preparation for the upcoming season.
Before we depart, I would like to take a minute to explain that whenever coming across a list of conditions like that of the previously mentioned, such as this taste supports that, or this herb supports that condition.
Which we see all too much as people “advertise” everything.
One should be aware that there are underlying causes to these imbalances and require more than just a particular taste or herb. These conditions are constellations amongst the various systems and should be addressed in the proper manner and approach.
Otherwise, what isn’t seen under the Band-Aid still remains, aka palliative. This also explains why more often than not, you will not see many general herbal suggestions from Herbal Restoration because we are all unique.
So whether conditions are vague and recurring or interfering with everyday life, do yourself a favor and get the support you require, whether it be from the herbalist, PA, MD, and the like. As an herbalist, I am integrative and feel the best approach encompasses all. We all have our perks: some educate, some diagnostic, some preventative, some supportive, others with the pill or blade. My point is, don’t hesitate; go get the issue checked out!
A distinguished palate, you say! Well, thank you to my teachers and guiders but you, the reader, as well, for going on this enlightening journey of Theophrastus’s eight tastes.
Brought to you from Herbal Restoration LLC, Written By Herbalist S. Reese. All Rights Reserved © 2026 Herbal Restoration LLC.
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The medicinal actions of taste
Recognized by the traditional medical systems of the world, tastes are an important indicator of the actions or effects exerted by food, herbs, and other medicinal substances.
Traditional medical systems of the world recognize the sense of taste that different flavors elicit is directly connected to the way we feel and perform. By identifying the flavors elicited from consuming specific chemical constituents of food or medicinal substances, we are then able to support and even restore our current state of being.
Enabling taste, the saliva delivers the chemical constituents of food, herbs, and other medicinal substances to receptors (G-protein Receptors (GPCRs)) of the taste buds, where Transient Receptor Potentials (TRPs) tell our body how to respond. Essentially, saliva, GPCRs, & TRPs give us the ability to perceive flavor and sense our food.
When it comes to the body, “soma” and our ability to experience sensation, “sensorius”: the tongue is a somatosensory (touch, temp, pain) and special sense (flavors) organ that channels signals to the tasting (gustatory) center and processing (somatic) divisions of the brain (de Araujo, I., Simon, S. 2009).
The tongue itself is a skeletal muscle, and a unique muscle at that. In that it has three-dimensional muscle fibers (front to back, top to bottom, & from the sides to the middle), giving it great agility. With this movement comes a sort of squeezing or milking of the sublingual glands that secretes saliva, which not only aids digestion but also the ability to perceive flavors (N. Menche, W.K. Wörterbuch, et al. 2016).
The flavors perceived and sensations felt from the front of the tongue and palate get transmitted via a special facial (7th) nerve, while the root of the tongue and posterior oral cavity (pharynx, larynx, & epiglottis) get transmitted via the glossopharyngeal (9th) or vagal (10th) nerves (de Araujo, I., Simon, S. 2009).
There are several thousand of these receptors along the gastrointestinal tract, which various flavors initiate a response (A. Ebneshahidi n.d.). For example, chemoreceptors sense the presence of glucose, fatty acids, and mineral content, amongst others (AlJulaih GH, Lasrado S. 2020). Nociceptors sense irritants and tissue damage (Simon, S.A., & de Araujo, I.E. 2005), while thermoreceptors detect temperature (R. Madrid, M. Pertusa 2014). All of which stimulate the neural paths of the former, whether it be enjoyable or toxic.
Presumably an adaptation that’s most likely a survival mechanism, as sampling a substance to inform the organism before its full ingestion. For example, if a flavor elicits an irritating response, it most likely is a noxious substance that is unfit for its consumption and may cause a gage reflex. Conversely, the flavor of foods radically influences why people select certain foods for enjoyment (Avena NM, Rada P, et al., 2006). The acquired and appreciated flavors of food and herb also depend on previous consumption and the amount of moisture in the substance consumed (M. Hutchins, 2001).
As important as taste is, unfortunately, many people take their taste ability for granted. You know the common aphorism of if it’s enjoyable, “You have a taste for it.” This does not mean excessively. Studies show that these contact senses may be adaptive, and repetitive stimulation down-regulates the sense to a particular molecule and vice versa. For example, if you were to lessen your consumption of sugar, such as dextrose, the sensitivity to it would increase. Another way to view this is: the more salt you consume, the more it takes to satisfy that urge (M. Hutchins, 2001). And so moderation along with diversity is key to the true enjoyment of taste.
While others, around 200,000 people yearly, visit the medical community about an impaired ability to perceive taste. There are a number of taste-related disorders like that of hypogeusia (reduced ability), ageusia (inhibited taste), and dysgeusia (a foul, rancid, metallic taste, or a burning sensation) that affect one’s ability to perceive or enjoy different flavors (NIDCD 2014).
There are numerous reasons behind these and others. As an example, a prostatic appliance like that of dentures or a flipper that partially covers the palate compromises sensory input. Or those traversing oral cancer, as the treatment may reduce the lingual papillae and atrophy the salivary glands. Autoimmunity like Sjogren’s and Hashimoto’s disease, or conditions such as hypothyroidism, diabetes, and renal failure (M. Hutchins 2001) may also affect taste perception.
Furthermore, some medications, chemicals, insecticides, and radiation therapies also potentially inhibit taste (NIDCD 2014). Several drugs have side effects of reducing salivary output, causing xerostomia (dry mouth). Moreover, as we age, the oral papillae numbers and turnover rate decrease; some nutrient deficiencies may also impair taste (M. Hutchins 2001). Poor gut health and poor oral hygiene also affect the sense of taste (NIDCD 2014), as does odor.
Aside from the influence odor has on taste perception. Taste is intimately connected to the various systems of the body, most notably Qi, the Blood, Heart, and the gastrointestinal system. It is through the sense of taste (perceived or not) that the body, primarily the digestive tract and its organs, recognizes what digestive juices to secrete, that aid in digestion and elimination of the ingested substances (HA n.d.).
When discussing the multitude of outcomes that result from the various flavors, the concepts of the world’s traditional medical systems on physiology and pathology vary slightly from system to system.
Collectively, we are able to view the various flavors or tastes as building and anabolic, to cleansing and catabolic. Influencing tissue growth and formation, to facilitating waste removal and tissue degeneration. From a clear and apparent standpoint, the tastes: sweet, bland /unctuous, salty, sour, pungent /acrid, bitter, and astringent are rather easily perceived.
As for the worldly traditions, we will cover Unani-Tibb, Ayurvedic, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). First, some basis: these traditions recognize our physiological makeup through qualitative windows. For example, if something is hot, it has the primary quality of heat. This quality, as well as others, mediates various physiological responses. For example, if something is hot, it has the propensity to also be stimulating, as in the case of spices and catabolism.
Furthermore, these qualities and physiological responses exert additional or secondary qualitative actions as well. Collectively, these qualities are often referred to as the “energetic force”. For example, if something has the quality of heat, its energetic force is also drying, such as in the case of saturated fats and cartilage degeneration.
Moreover, the former is also viewed in degrees and polarities. For example, hot things may have varying levels of heat, and the opposition of hot, and its level of heat, is cold, and its degree of coolness.
Ultimately, these windows are elemental representations that reveal what Unani calls the “4 Humors”, Ayurveda calls “7 Dhatus”, and in TCM, “Three treasures”, essentially the basis for tissue formation. Which, in the end, typifies our psychological makeup otherwise known as our “Eucrasia” according to Unani, “Vikriti” in Ayurvedic terms, and Qi in TCM.
According to Unani, there are eight tastes, two for each of the four humors (D. Osborn, 2018). Ayurvedic tradition encompasses three doshas in which there are six rasa (tastes), two for each. According to TCM, Wu Xíng embodies 5 tastes which correspond to five elements and the organ systems they have an affinity for. All of which are derived from the elements of nature. Particularly; Fire, Air, Water, & Earth in Greek, while Ayurveda includes Ether, and TCM Metal.
Considering the scientific perspective of herbalism, the actions ie. the physiological responses that result from food, herbs, and other medicinal substances, are attributed to the active constituents held by the substance and determine the medicinal effects of a substance or formulation. Which means there may also be, let’s say, hidden qualities and virtues that are not so easily perceived in relation to a substance’s clear and apparent flavors of sweet, bland / unctuous, salty, sour, pungent / acrid, bitter, and astringent.
Starting with sweet, we must ascribe nutrition to the taste that is sweet. The sweetness informs us that the substance is nutritious; as is the case with the three categories of sweet: sweet, bland, and unctuous / umami, which relate to the macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins), thus encouraging consumption.
Sweet has a chemical composition of Cn(H2O)n, otherwise known as carbohydrates, and contains hydrogen and oxygen. Sugar, put simply, is glucose, fructose, and sucrose, which is determined by the number of carbon atoms in the sugar rings. These phytonutrients are primary plant metabolites and make up monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides, commonly found in fruits, roots, tubers, and rhizomes (S. Dharmananda 2010). Sweet foods include melons, stone fruits, seeds, and various potatoes, e.g., monk fruit, wolfberry, bananas, yams, sweet potatoes, beets, skirret, and the like. (Tap For a better understanding of the chemical structures of sugars, please look at H.R. article on macronutrients)
Sweet varies in its form, as with Arhat (Siraita grosvenorii) fruit, containing the triterpene glycoside mogroside. High amounts are held within the flesh of this fruit, which accounts for its sweet taste (Wang, Bin & Yang, Zhou & Xin et al. 2019). Another example is licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) root, which is about fifty times sweeter than sugar, is accreted by the glycyrrhizic acid it contains (Omar, Hesham R et al. 2012). Not exclusively or entirely, many of the sweet foods and herbs exert emollient, demulcent, immunomodulant, refrigerant, nutritive, tonic, and adaptogenic actions (HA n.d.).
Sweet tends to be temperate to cooling, softening, moistening, nourishing, restorative, harmonizing, calming / sedating, anabolic, and building (HA n.d.). As mentioned in the H.R. article on macromolecules, many sweet substances before modern industrialism were primarily utilized for their medicinal actions. Take, for example, sweet complex carbohydrates hold water, aid bowel activity, and support immune function. Throat lozenges and cough syrups utilize the sugars to soothe irritated mucous membranes. In TCM, sweet is commonly used as part of sedative formulas (S. Dharmananda 2010). While in moderation, its adaptogenic-like quality tends to invigorate basic energy, while simultaneously calming agitation. Though in excess, it creates a type of damp-laxity.
From a Greek perspective, sweetness is appealing and euphoric. Thus encompassing the attractive virtue of the sanguine temperament. The breakdown and transport of sweet solutes begin with saliva and the ptyalin enzymes that are held within it. Which are also of a sanguine nature, as the wetness facilitates its flow and the warmth of the amylase initiates its dissolution. Internally, it quickly absorbs caloric energy, providing ignis or thermal energy for cellular metabolism (D. Osborn 2018). In excess, sweet becomes cooling (fattening) and stifles metabolic heat.
In the realm of Ayurvedic tradition and practice, sweet rasā may be considered cool, smooth, soft, heavy, and dense. Derived from the earth and water elements, it composes the kapha dosha. Thought to calm, potentially decrease the pitta (warm & moist) dosha, while increasing, possibly aggravating kapha. Since sweet is cooling and building, it is affiliated with the seasons summer and fall, which implies this taste is good for preparation of the coming season. Sweet, fresh, juicy, and nourishing foods such as fruits supply energy without being taxing, allied with a heightened state of consciousness. The essence or sattva that is sweet derives love, harmony, goodness, and virtue, as such promotes clarity, perception, and intelligence (HA n.d.).
Refined sugars are extremely sweet and may be related to throwing gasoline on a fire, although let’s keep in mind that the flame that blazes with the gas tends to dwindle just as quickly. Excessive consumption of the sweet taste is like stifling the body’s agni (digestive fire) and metabolism. With overconsumption, the sweetness has the ability to build up morbid levels, creating a superfluity, as in diabetes, SIBO, dysbiosis, even recurring UTIs. (HA n.d.).
When it comes to TCM, sweets are associated with the earth element, seasonal transition, the color yellow, the spleen or yin organ, and the stomach or yang organ, which all revolve around absorption of nutrients. Sweet is soothing (reducing irritation) and generates fluid (balancing qi). These sweet tastes exhibit restorative / tonic actions within the body, neutralizing toxic effects of other substances; therefore, they are a common harmonizer in herbal formulas (HA n.d.).
Mildly sweet is bittersweet, aka bland, and is a subcategory of sweet. This subcategory is not carried with the emphasis as the four elements in Traditional Greek Medicine, or the five systematic correspondences of Traditional Chinese Medicine, nor the six rasā according to Ayurvedic Tradition.
Bland tastes tend to be more diuretic and therefore drain accumulated dampness, while exhibiting more of a moderate and temperate thermal quality than sweet. This taste is free from any roughness or harshness and still exerts a softening, demulcent, and emollient force upon the body. Legumes, oats, grains, and mushrooms, for example, are mildly sweet or bland in taste. Traditional Asian cuisine of rice and starches has exceptionally mild sweetness or is bland in taste.
The third category of sweet, the taste that is unctuous in Greek tradition, or umami of TCM. More of a sensation, bland and umami go hand in hand. In that unctuous and umami are pleasant tasting and savory, they are commonly coined “comfort foods.” Often considered rich, oily, or fatty, they signify the presence of fatty acids and proteins. Unctuous umami dishes usually include broths, soups, stews, and viands (S. Dharmananda 2010).
Unctuous tastes like fats and oils are bland; this taste elicits the sensation of lubrication, slipperiness, and coating, which is soft, smooth, and yet again is free of all roughness and harshness. These qualities not only reside in the mouth but have the same influence upon the entire body. Supporting malleability and mobility, making the skin and hair supple while also freeing up movement for bodily articulation. The thermal quality is neutral to warming and is also very anabolic and building metabolically. These aspects make unctuous foods good for supporting those of the melancholic and vata (cold / dry ) constitution as it’s soothing and subsides aggravations of the nervous humor (D. Osborn 2018).
Mrs. De la Forêt teaches (2019) that the Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda in the early nineteenth century was the first to use the term Umami. Unctuous, umami dishes like rich meats and animal fats build (produce) blood and have the propensity to unduly thicken it, leading to stagnation and morbidity, contributing to metabolic excess like gout, high cholesterol, and hypertension. Moreover, an excess also has the likelihood of clogging the spleen, liver, arteries, and other vessels (D. Osborn 2018) of the body, contributing to situations of migraine, menorrhagia, arthritis, and even interstitial cystitis.
Oftentimes, the “salty” taste calls to certain people; this may be in relation to the body’s inherent attempt to vitalize fluids, restore mineral depletions, or aid in taste perception. Being that salty and sour are akin, the desire may be for sour rather than salty. In any case, sodium chloride (i.e. table salt, & “artisan salts” like Himalayan or black salt) is only one of the mineral salts, and an excess of it will instigate an imbalance such as edema, swelling, bile obstruction, and even hypertension.
The aspects of salty flavors are of a different nature than that of the Western perspective. More so, the other traditional systems view the flavor that is salty, with a wide range of minerals rather than solely sodium (P. Rupérez 2002). Take, for instance, licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) root containing glycyrrhizin, which represents the mixture of mineral salts that partially account for the medicinal aspects of this herb (Omar, Hesham R et al. 2012).
Sodium or not, mineral salts elicit a substantial influence on fluid metabolism, promoting retention via osmotic pressure and exerting a moistening quality that softens hardened tissues. Moreover, salty flavors also restore mineral depletion within the skin, hair, teeth, and bones (M. Tierra 2017). Not exclusively or entirely, many of the salty foods and herbs are considered nutritive, building, restorative, balancing, tonic, resolving, and draining (HA n.d.).
Sea veggies (Nori, Sea lettuce, Wakame, etc), Dark leafy greens (Kale, Spinach, Asparagus, etc.) Meats (Oyster, Tuna, Pork, etc.) are all examples of salty foods. (Tap For more information on minerals, please see H.R. article titled “Building Blocks”).
In Greek terms, the salty taste stimulates anabolic activity and embodies the choleric qualities of heat and dryness. Drying, you say? Yes, dryness attracts and holds moisture like a sponge, lending to its ability to dissolve lumps and soften hardness. Look at it this way: with the salty consumption comes thirst, and like the sponge, the body retains that fluid. This type of moistening quality has the potential to aggravate the phlegmatic and blood humors (D. Osborn 2017).
In Ayurvedic practices, salty rasā corresponds to warmth and moisture, which are asserted with the fire and water elements, making this rasā allied with the pitta (warm / moist) dosha. The salty rasā is the energetic foundation of balance and transformation. Aligned with the season of autumn, as this is a good time to introduce warming building foods to support the body in preparation for the following season. Thought to calm, potentially decrease vatha (cold / dry), while increasing, possibly aggravating pitta (warm / moist). In excess, its quality can instigate agitation, acidity, hunger, thirst, and insomnia (HA n.d.).
According to TCM, the salty taste is allied with the water element, winter, the kidney or yin organ, and the bladder or yang organ, as well as bone. It’s heavy in weight, therefore, has a downward or descending action. Serving to both nourish and astringe the essence (HA n.d.). The cooling aspects participate in resolving issues by softening hardness, dissolving masses, and removing moisture. On the other side of this polarity lies the warming kidney tonic aspects of the salty taste. In TCM, many of the salty taste of medicinal substances are predominately sourced from animals; a few examples include: antelope horn, cuttlefish bone, deer antler, earthworm, pearl, oyster shell, placenta, pumice, turtle, and tortoise shell, etc. (S. Dharmananda 2010).
Sour taste, the taste that is sour, like salty also embodies minerals, though less so. More evident is its organic acid content, making this flavor more moistening than that of the salty flavor. This flavor is about the most influential when speaking of alkalizing properties. Heavily concentrated in fruits and rinds, organic acids like that of ascorbic acid, citric acid, and malic acid, account for the taste that is sour.
I think most of us are familiar with the sensation that is sour. You know it. Recall after consuming that lemon that one time. It was so sour that your mouth puckered up as if the saliva was almost squeezed out. It was so bad that your ears felt tight. lol 8D…
Sour flavors have a simultaneous or dual-type action within the body. Being astringent, it exerts a retraining, tightening force that binds and tones up loose lax tissues of the body, checking fluid loss and closing pores (S. Dharmananda 2010). While at the same time, sour has an almost immediate action upon saliva and stomach secretions, including other various digestive fluids of the body.
These secretions promote the ripening and flow of bodily fluids. While boosting metabolism, the sour taste improves vital fluids and overall physiological function (D. Osborn 2018). As an example, the acetic acid of vinegar or the tartaric acid of wine are both sour in taste and stimulate digestion and immune function. Red wine and vinegar are both commonly utilized in blood and liver tonic herbal formulas. Not exclusively or entirely, many of the sour foods and herbs are considered astringent, anti-inflammatory, attenuating, hepatic, and tonic (S. Dharmananda 2010). Sour taste is synonymous with sharp, tart, and tangy.
Some sour foods include: Bilimbi, Camu camu, Tamarind, Mume fruit, Citrus fruits, Cranberries, Tart cherries, Grapes, Pickles, and the like.
When it comes to Traditional Greek Medicine, the sour taste is acidic, penetrating, heating, and moistening. Being wet, it’s allied with the phlegmatic temperament, as the heat relates to the choleric temperament. Having a concocting action upon fluid metabolism, it exerts a thinning, expulsive influence on thick, obstinate fluids of the body (D. Osborn 2018).
As for the sour rasā (taste) according to Ayurveda, this flavor has an affinity for the lungs and affects all dhatus or tissues of the body. Divided between sour and astringent, the sour rasā relates with fire & earth (warming & moistening), and is allied with the pitta virya or energy that supports digestion. While the astringent rasā relates with air and earth (cool & drying), it’s cohesive and constricting. The sour taste is a good match for the vata, though not so much for pitta or kapha (HA n.d.).
In the correspondence of TCM, sour taste is associated with coolness and moisture, the wood element, and spring. It is asserted to the Liver and Gallbladder; the Liver itself has taste receptors (B. Ekstrand, J.F. Young, et al. 2017). Sour is also of the sinews, in which it has a moistening and softening force upon them, while decreasing contractions of the tendons and ligaments. The sour flavor boosts malleability, flexibility, and mobility. This taste is also allied with the eyes, and the ethereal soul or hun spirit (S. Dharmananda, 2010).
When thinking of sour, think of the flexibility; ligaments, tendons, synovium, bursa, meniscus, nucleus pulposus, and the like.
After discussing the tastes Sweet, Bland / Unctuous, Salty, and Sour, of Greek, Ayurveda, and TCM, we’ve found ourselves in just about the middle, between the building and anabolic, and the cleansing and catabolic actions of food, herbs, and other medicinal substances.
The taste & sensation that is pungent, aka spicy, is generally the “hottest” of the flavors. Most of us are familiar with the sensation that spices inflict upon the oral cavity, not to mention the whole body, like sweating, eyes tearing up, and sinuses starting to run.
These sensations are typically associated with the low hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of volatile aromatic oils and terpenes (HA., n.d., Hoffmann 2003). Despite the term “aromatic,” it doesn’t necessarily mean that these constituents carry a prominent odor like that of an onion or even a flower. As far as fragrant is concerned, rather than heating and dispersing, fragrant aromatics tend to be moderately warming and invigorating; put simply, they are subtle in comparison to pungent.
Pungent aromatic oils are strongly disinfecting and have an irritating action on the kidneys and lungs, which aids in their expulsion via urination, respiration, and sweating. Their terpene constituents exert antispasmodic effects upon the muscles and mucous linings (HA., n.d., Hoffmann 2003).
Being hot, the pungent taste & sensation is considered the most stimulating to the body and its metabolism. Stoking the digestive fire, pungent flavors boost catabolism, support digestion, and heighten assimilation of food and herbs (M. Tierra 2017). This taste also increases circulation, vivifies blood, invigorates the extracellular fluids, and supports immunity.
The warm, dry, energetic force of pungent is that of a centrifugal nature which thins congealed blood and disperses dampness like that of phlegm congestion and edema (D. Osborn 2018). It works from the interior outward in every direction, as it raises core and peripheral temperatures, it dispels chills and aids in the expulsion of excess cold. This same action opens the vessels and pores of the body, enabling the release of various toxins and superfluities through the exterior (skin) surface (HA n.d.). Pungent examples include mustard seed, garlic, cayenne, ginger, pepper, basil, mint, celery, and the like.
Some hold an ascending energy or force supporting cognition and creativity (M. Tierra 2017). While others have a descending force through the gastrointestinal tract, dispersing epigastric fullness and distention (D. Osborn 2018). Not exclusively or entirely, many of the pungent foods and herbs may be considered stimulating, attenuating, expectorant, diuretic, diaphoretic, analgesic, rubefacient, and adaptogenic (HA n.d.).
Those that never or very rarely consume spices, (black pepper, cinnamon, basil, etc) this may be just what is needed, supporting weight loss, energy formation, immunity, mobility, and a warm periphery, to say the least!
While those that always include spices (Tabasco, Cholula, Sriracha, chili powder, salt, etc.) it may relate with a reduced ability to perceive flavors as the “robustness” fills the gap, which may lend to HBP, inflammation, constipation, dryness, insomnia, and irritability (D. Osborn 2018). The pungent taste is synonymous with hot, spicy, acrid, and piquant.
According to Greek Traditional Medicine, the pungent taste embodies heat and dryness; it’s allied with the choleric temperament and humor. Which elicits a strong stimulating force upon the natural (digestive) faculty and its functions. Being that pungent flavors increase ignis, it improves pepsis, concocts, & attenuates both the blood & phlegmatic humors and brings relief to conditions of fatigue, bloating, distention, high blood sugar, respiratory congestion, and the like. In excess, it has the ability to dissipate the vital force, aggravate the choleric temperament and humor, as well as agitate the melancholic mind (D. Osborn 2018).
In Ayurvedic practices, the pungent rasā is considered light, warm, and dry. Embodying the pitta and vata doshas and their qualities within the body. This is the taste for winter, similar to fall, though the freshness of the vegetation has gone. Leaving the body in need of warming spices. Supporting agni (digestive fire) results in the expulsion of ama (undigested food particulates). The pitta virya or energy of digestion increases the body’s post-digestive outcome of properly assimilating food and herbs. Thought to calm, potentially decrease kapha, while increasing, possibly aggravating pitta (HA n.d.).
With the correspondence of TCM, pungent is more of an acrid taste, although let’s keep in mind that pungent and acrid go hand in hand, which is the next taste.
This taste is a variation of pungent and encompasses most of the former, although it slightly differs in that acrid exhibits a more drying influence while being less heating to the body (D. Osborn 2018).
The taste-like sensations of acrid are sharp, rough, harsh, burning, tingling & numbing. These sensations are associated with a high alkaloid (L. Rose 2020), and alkaloid-like content, essential aromatic oils, which are highly volatile, and alkylamides.
Deeper actions cause the blood vessels to dilate, relaxing surface tissues and muscle (S. Dharmananda 2010). Not exclusively or entirely, many of the acrid herbs may be considered diffusive, dispersing, vivifying, antispasmodic, analgesic, rubefacient, and antimicrobial, much like pungent but more-so loosening in terms of relieving muscle tension and anesthetic to the mucus membranes (think orally or topically) (L. Rose 2020).
According to TCM, acrid is held within the category of surface-relieving medicinal substances, and its flavor is associated with the metal element, autumn, and the Lungs or yin organ. The Lung is the viscera organ that vitalizes Blood and controls the exterior or circulation of Qi.
Acrid also corresponds with the large intestine or yang organ, cutaneous tissue, smell, and corporeal soul or po spirit. It disperses stagnation and warms the body, and increases yang Qi (S. Dharmananda 2010).
Cloves, sichuan pepper, bamboo shoots, valerian root ,gymnema leaf, electric daisies and echinacea are some examples of acrid.
“The most bitter truth is always better than the sweetest lie,” and for the most part, the taste that is bitter ends up being the most cleansing and catabolic of the eight tastes. Notoriously despised, the bitter flavor is well underconsumed and regretfully so!
Great for the stomach, liver, gallbladder, spleen, and pancreas, the bitter flavor restores bowel function, cleans the blood, reduces inflammation, protects the heart and calms the nerves.
The qualities of bitter are cooling, drying, calming, heavy, and descending. Not exclusively or entirely, many of the bitter foods and herbs are considered hepatic, alterative, tonic, cholagogue, choleretic, stomachic, laxative, aperitif, sedative, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory (HA n.d.).
The plant constituents responsible for the bitter taste include sesquiterpenes, monoterpene iridoids, and secoiridoids amongst a number of different types of alkaloids which work in unison and may be termed the “Bitter Principal”. Not so much bitter in principal, a number of glycosides and flavonoids are also quite bitter in taste as well. These secondary plant metabolites account for some of the strong medicinal compounds present in herbal formulas (HA n.d.).
The gastrointestinal tract (mouth, stomach, intestines, liver, etc.) has a family of taste receptors that reside within it and once triggered by the presence of the bitter principal, sets off a cascade of events: from stimulating parasympathetic response and amplifying enzymatic digestive retort to serve in liberation, absorption, metabolism, and excretion (LADME), to pacifying the heart and calming agnation (HA n.d.). This is a great example of reflex responses from a minute stimulus, facilitating a complex set of reactions.
Though most dark green leafy vegetables have an abundance of bitter constituents that reside within them, veggies like endive, radicchio, sugarloaf (borca), artichoke, kale, and gobo have higher concentrations.
Traditional Greek Medicine views the bitter taste as cool & dry, while relating it to the melancholic temperament. Inducing the flow of alkaline enzymes, it cools and soothes inflammation and hyperacidity, cleaning the blood of hot, purulent toxins. In that same effect, it proves to subside aggravations of the choleric temperament. That’s not to say excessive consumption may distemper the melancholic constitution and nervous humor, by decreasing appetite, instigating nausea, and contributing to emaciation, lethargy, and loss of libido (D. Osborn 2018).
In the realm of Ayurvedic practice, the bitter rasā, being cool and dry, associates with the ether & air elements and encompasses the vata dosha. Its activity involves speed, excitement, and is the foundation of movement. This is the taste of spring, a time of cleansing and detoxification from the building foods of the previous season; as such, this taste is the most catabolic. Thought to calm, potentially decrease pitta and kapha, while increasing, possibly aggravating vata (HA n.d.).
As for the correspondence in TCM, the bitter taste is associated with the fire element, summer, and the color red. It’s allied with the Heart system; the Heart is considered the seat of shen or the endowing soul. The heart or cardiovascular system, along with the nervous system, is strongly influenced by the bitter taste of alkaloids and glycosides. Considered to have cooling and cleansing actions that clears heat and toxins, results in a calm mind and ease the heart (S. Dharmananda 2010).
The tongue body not only has numerous taste receptors but is also a reflection of the heart. Moreover, bitter corresponds with the small intestine or yang organ, serving as the downward energy to expel wind, clear heat, and drain moisture. Small amounts are commonly added to herbal formulas to guide the medicinal actions (M. Tierra 2017).
The taste that is astringent, exerting a dry, tightening feel is more of a sensation rather than an actual flavor. This sensation or astringency not only occurs in the mouth but is exerted on all other tissues of the body.
The secondary plant metabolites that derive this taste are primarily tannins, but anthocyanins and some flavonoids also exert a drying & constricting force upon the body as well (HA n.d., Bone & Mills 2013). Many of the astringent foods and herbs may be considered cooling, thickening, cohesive, tightening, retaining, drying, binding, and hardening.
This astringent force constricts all bodily tissues, from the muscle fibers to the nervous tissues. Causing them to become more firm, tight, & dense in structure. As a result, the astringency subdues discharge (think: sweat, diarrhea, tears, etc.), removes morbid, putrefied secretions (think: puss, toxins, waste, etc.), and consolidates excitation (think: spasms, inflammation, butterflies, jitters, etc.).
Put another way, astringent taste firms & tones up tissues, forcing the moisture out, eliminating excess fluids and abnormal secretions from bodily tissues that have become too loose or lax in their structure. Take “cold” temperatures for example: when we get cold, what happens? Our skin gets tight as the vessels close. We also get rather pale in color, and any perspiration typically ceases; this I a prime example of astringency.
Stepping back to astringency and away from cold temps, astringent medicinal substances may be beneficial in most types of hemorrhage internally & externally (W. Fox 1924) as well as laxity, think: gingivitis, enteritis, colitis, hemorrhoids, petechiae, ecchymosis, exudative eczema, cellulitis, etc. (HA n.d.).
Though be warned, in excess or with the incorrect application, the astringency can contribute to undue hardening, or potentially congeal already thick, morbid, and putrefied fluids of the body. Contributing to tension, griping, constipation, immobility, dryness, withering, and emaciation (D. Osborn 2018).
For example, heavy tea (Camellia sinensis) drinkers (e.g. Green, White, Yellow, & Black Tea, Oolong, Matcha, Assam, Sencha, Cambod, etc.), including heavy drinkers of yerba mate, stinging nettle, and raspberry tea, oftentimes end up with constipation, “charley horses”, breathlessness, fatigue, and lethargy, in relation to the astringency.
When considering the traditional prospectives of the taste that is astringent, this taste or rather sensation is coupled with salty, though salty is warming & drying, and sour, though sour is moistening.
Astringent examples include, green banana’s & plantains, apples, pomegranates, cranberries, cinnamon, bay, witch hazel, and the like.
Seasonal Consideration
In addition to the effects each taste exhibits, we also consume in correlation with the time of year. The taste, as mentioned in each section, has an intimate connection with the seasons. Signifying that the associated tastes are aligned with the availability in nature and in preparation for the upcoming season.
Before we depart, I would like to take a minute to explain that whenever coming across a list of conditions like that of the previously mentioned, such as this taste supports that, or this herb supports that condition.
Which we see all too much as people “advertise” everything.
One should be aware that there are underlying causes to these imbalances and require more than just a particular taste or herb. These conditions are constellations amongst the various systems and should be addressed in the proper manner and approach.
Otherwise, what isn’t seen under the Band-Aid still remains, aka palliative. This also explains why more often than not, you will not see many general herbal suggestions from Herbal Restoration because we are all unique.
So whether conditions are vague and recurring or interfering with everyday life, do yourself a favor and get the support you require, whether it be from the herbalist, PA, MD, and the like. As an herbalist, I am integrative and feel the best approach encompasses all. We all have our perks: some educate, some diagnostic, some preventative, some supportive, others with the pill or blade. My point is, don’t hesitate; go get the issue checked out!
A distinguished palate, you say! Well, thank you to my teachers and guiders but you, the reader, as well, for going on this enlightening journey of Theophrastus’s eight tastes.
Brought to you from Herbal Restoration LLC, Written By Herbalist S. Reese. All Rights Reserved © 2026 Herbal Restoration LLC.
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