Consumer segmentation for sourness: exploring perception, liking, personality, and intake

Organic acids are commonly added for sourness in food, but published data on relative sourness at equimolar concentrations is lacking, and related attributes like puckering and drying remain understudied. Here, we compare different organic acids in a large sample of naïve consumers. Participants (n = 71) who reported consuming sour foods or beverages at least once a month rated attribute intensities and overall liking of aqueous equimolar solutions of lactic, malic, fumaric, tartaric, and citric acid across four log concentrations. Dose-response functions revealed acid-specific intensity differences. Citric acid induced the most sourness and puckering, while lactic acid induced the least. Based on the linear mixed effects model coefficients, relative to lactic acid, sourness increased the most with fumaric and malic acid, followed by tartaric, and citric acid. Based on affective data and recent literature, participants were segmented into three hedonic groups: (1) a Strong Negative (SN) group showing a strong drop in liking with increasing concentration, (2) an intermediate Weak Positive-Negative (WP/N) group where liking dropped more gradually, and (3) a Strong Positive (SP) group where liking increased with increasing acid concentration. Notably, the three groups differed in their perception of sourness, puckering, and drying, which was more pronounced for the non-citric acids tested. Strong sour dislikers (SN) rated these attributes as more intense than the other groups, particularly at higher concentrations. Compared to the SN group, strong sour likers (SP) self-reported a significantly higher intake of citrus/tart fruits and fruit juices, but no personality differences were observed.