Sweet and sour

Fruits show their characteristic taste by having two ingredients at opposite ends of the taste spectrum - sugars and acids. As mentioned on the previous page, whilst fructrose predominates in fruit, other sugars are always present.

The three main acids found in fruits are citric acid, malic acid and, to a lesser extent, tartaric acid. Brix : acid ratio - an easy way to tell if a juice is sweet or acidic (sour) is to divide the sugar content by the acid content. The higher the ratio, the sweeter the juice. For example, 60° Brix juice concentrate with an acid of 5% would give a ratio of 12:1, which will be sweeter than a 60° Brix concentrate with 10% acid, which would give a ratio of 6:1. NB the tables are intended as a guide only.