Would you eat the forbidden fungi?
Scientists have uncovered a mushroom-derived compound that seems to be the most bitter substance known on Earth.
The compound is one of three new bitter molecules discovered by studying the mushroom.
Amaropostia Stiptica isn’t toxic, but you don’t want to taste it.© martinbishop via iNaturalist.
Ourtaste budscan broadly pick out five distinctive types of taste, one of which is bitterness.
Most of these compounds identified so far have come from flowering plants or are synthetically produced.
So the researchers decided to take a closer look at the known but less studied bitter bracket fungus.
stipticaisnt toxic like some species of mushroom, it is practically inedible due to its bitterness.
Their findings werepublishedearlier this February in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
The researchers say their study is the first to subject mushroom-derived compounds to functional bitter taste receptor screening.
And what we learn from studyingA.
stipticaand similar mushrooms could help us better understand the nature of bitterness.
Personally, Im hoping scientists will one day explain why I hate olives so much.
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