Whenever I get the chance to go to the theater (which isn’t often, thanks to Netflix and TiVo), I usually grab a box of Sour Patch kids or whatever sour gummies they offer at the concession stand. My reasoning is that empty carbs is better than empty carbs AND fat with chocolate.
Anyway, I usually eat the whole box within the first half of the movie, but by the time I get to the last 5 or 10 candies, my mouth is sore, and my tongue is all smooth and burny-feeling. :eek:
My question is two-fold:
1) What exactly is happening? Over-excitation of the taste buds?
2) Am I causing permanent damage?
Most sour candies achieve at least part of their sour flavor with citric acid, which will burn sensitive mucus tissue. And it’s usually temporary.
I’ve had similar issues with sour candies, particularly Sour Skittles. I always assumed that the sour sugar coating the candy was cause small cuts on my mouth and then the citric acid was getting in the cuts and causing them to burn.
I love sour candy more than most other foods and any kind with the sour sugar on the outside causes this sort of reaction. My absolute weakness, Sour Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, do not. I can go through an obscene amount of those and only have to stop because I’ll make myself sick otherwise. A burny feeling in my mouth is never an issue with them.