# Lemons: Bitter or sour? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907 "2014-08-19T16:36:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/1 "2014-08-19T16:36:17Z")
Do you think of lemons as being bitter, or sour? I know the two options are not mutually exclusive, but I’ve always thought of them as being obviously sour, with any bitterness being overpowered by sourness. Based on comments from a few others, their first thought seems to be “bitter”. If anything, I think the secondary characteristic of lemons (after sour) is sweetness - they _do_ contain plenty of sugar. The only bitter part might be the skin, but we don’t call oranges “bitter”. Are these few people who say lemons are bitter mental, or is that the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the taste of lemons? Coming soon: Is this colour yellow or green? You decide! ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/2 "2014-08-19T16:42:46Z")
If you’re talking about the fruit or juice, it’s sour. ---
**Author:** ![PorchePine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@PorchePine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PorchePine)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/3 "2014-08-19T16:47:21Z")
Lemons are sour. Lemon peel/rind has a bitterness to it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/4 "2014-08-19T16:47:22Z")
sour. acids are sour. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/5 "2014-08-19T16:48:50Z")
Sour. When I passed out [miracle berry tablets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum) at home and at work – for SCIENCE! – lemons were one of the things we tried. Miraculin makes sour things taste sweet; lemons under its influence were very citrusy, not bitter at all. Some of the _other_ things we tried – coffee, in particular – had their sour notes turned to cloying sweetness _and still_ some bitter notes. Coffee not good. Sour Patch Kids and other sour candies were liked by the kids (at home), panned by the adults (at work and home). Nb. One brave/foolish soul took a swig of distilled white vinegar, reporting it tasted sweet-and-bitter on the tongue… and then spewed it everywhere when it hit the back of his throat where the miracle berry tablets hadn’t reached. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/6 "2014-08-19T17:12:54Z")
> [@PorchePine](#): > > Lemons are sour. Lemon peel/rind has a bitterness to it. I think the skins of the fruit sections have some bitterness as well. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/7 "2014-08-19T17:13:27Z")
Definitely sour and not at all bitter. Anyone who calls lemons bitter doesn’t know what the word actually means, and thinks it just generically means “tastes bad”. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/8 "2014-08-19T18:08:20Z")
Another vote for lemon flesh being sour, lemon rind being bitter. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/9 "2014-08-19T20:09:02Z")
The rind isn’t bitter. The pith is bitter. That white stuff under the rind. That’s bitter. The rind is just super citric-y oil sour. ---
**Author:** ![Random\_noob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@Random\_noob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random_noob)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/10 "2014-08-19T23:20:15Z")
Base if off the kind of face you make after taking a bit out of it. Sour equals and squeamish face :~ and bitter equals a tongue out nasty face 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/11 "2014-08-19T23:40:22Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > The rind isn’t bitter. The pith is bitter. That white stuff under the rind. That’s bitter. The rind is just super citric-y oil sour. I’d say the rind has a hint of bitter to it. Don’t notice any sour myself. As for the lemon itself, mostly sour. I can’t definitely rule out there being a touch of bitter in the juice, but the overwhelming flavor is sour. This is as opposed to something like yellow grapefruit, which, to me, is equal parts bitter and sour. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/12 "2014-08-19T23:42:43Z")
Maybe they ate a seed. Or juiced the seeds. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/13 "2014-08-20T18:34:04Z")
I used to quiz 9th graders on this. I’d ask if lemons were bitter or sour- all the black kids and some of the white ones would say bitter. Same for vinegar. A few kids would be surprised at the bitter-choosing ones. I’d describe the proper taste for bitter thus: Think of eating a pecan. Now think of biting into a piece of the shell that sometimes sticks between the halves of the pecan- that’s bitter! This was in South Georgia. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/14 "2014-08-20T23:47:15Z")
I think Lawrence Durrell would have been in the “bitter” camp; what with his memoir of his time in Cyprus in the 1950s, _Bitter Lemons_. Mind you, he came out with some distinctly weird stuff 🙂 … ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-bitter-or-sour/695907/15 "2014-08-25T00:45:40Z")
Lemon juice is definitely sour. But I’ve definitely had lemons whose flesh was more bitter than sour. I’ve also encountered the weird phenomenon of something being so intensely sour that it actually tastes bitter. Adding sweet to it makes it taste sour again, though.