In the beverage, food, and pharmaceutical industries, a flavor masker is a chemical interaction that causes the absence of taste. This is known as the Farish effect, a phenomenon noted by 18th-century chemist William Farish. Contrary to popular belief, a flavor masker is not one chemical component; rather, it is two components that interact with the vallate papillae on the tongue with little or no reaction. Each component, individually, stimulates the vallate papillae.
References
- Roger E. Stier. "Masking Bitter Taste of Pharmaceutical Actives" (PDF). Magna Sweet. S2CID 42499233. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-19.
- "Masking Bitter Taste by Molecules" (PDF). Springer.
- Huang, Liquan; Breslin, Paul A. S.; Breslin (2006). "Human Taste: Peripheral Anatomy, Taste Transduction, and Coding". Advances in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology: 152–190 – via Academia.