On February 4th, 2024, content creator Christina Kirkman posted a video of her Tiktok in the passenger seat of her car. Frozen grapes coated with citric acid From a new snack brand called Fruit Riot!It was released in the US several months ago. “Holy shit. They weren’t kidding, they’re really sour,” Kirkman says in the video. “Nature’s Candy, Now Moth Candy-er” is one of the brand’s taglines.
From sour grapes to vibrant chips of dill pickles Every Packer’s Moment in Intermediatepeople don’t seem to get enough of this very real and very brave food trend. And the trend towards sourness is brewed For yearsthe recent impact of social media and the ability to disrupt and expand our vision have surpassed insatiable appetite by sourizing insatiable and sometimes extreme desires.
Acidity is a taste related to acidity as measured using the pH scale. Any pH below 7 is considered acidic. The lower the pH, the more sour and intense it becomes. Children with sour patches are said to have a pH level of 2.5, which is close to that of vinegar, but the pH of peanut butter is about 6. Timeless memes I saw the power of the pH internal organs of a baby gnawing on a lemon wedge (~2-3 pH), packer, recoil, and the feeling that it was not only joy but also pain. So why are we willing to expose ourselves to this?
There are some interesting hypotheses in the scientific world about why humans eat sour foods, but surprisingly little consensus is. “It’s more complicated than we think and perhaps one of our unstudied preferences,” says Julien Delarue, associate professor of sensory and consumer science at UC Davis. Sugar signals energy-rich carbohydrates, but bitterness once warned of poison. However, recently in 2022, the research paper titled “”The evolution of sour tasteWe emphasized that we barely know why sour foods exist in our diet. The paper authors concluded that acidity indicates a lack of harmful bacteria, which may make food safe to eat.
Regardless of prehistoric reasons, the question of how to eat sour foods opens up a much more interesting argument, at least from a gastronomic perspective. From immature mangoes to sourdough bread to fermented Thai sausages, the world of sours is a wide and wild place, and as long as brave eaters see fruits and foaming, “that basking as something more delicate than decomposition,” it shows “that more delicate than decomposition,” as in the vinegar sandor katzz write of the minal book of the aremation.
Acidity also triggers a unique but purposeful physiological response of saliva, protecting teeth from the acidity of sour foods. In addition to maintaining good pH levels in the mouth and stomach, saliva helps in digestion. Perhaps this is why both traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic practices require sour foods for a balanced diet. “Culturally, food is a medicine,” says Vijay Kumar, executive chef at a restaurant in South India. SEMMA In New York City. Kumar is from Tamil Nadu. Tamarind serves almost all the distinctive sour tastes of dishes found in dishes like Brosie Tonic, known as Rasam. “Growing up, we really didn’t go to the doctor,” Kumar says. “When I caught a cold, my grandmother was making Rasam with tamarind and black pepper,” he adds.
This health halo is a meaningful connection to the past, but the mainstream popularity of these culturally specific sour foods may be rooted in something much more modern: flavor curing diners. “It’s more likely than any other generation, Gen Z wants adventurous flavours, such as sour or bitter, tasty and spicy,” the 2025 trend report said. Food Research Institute.
For those flavour seekers, restaurants, and even local grocery stores, have become a wonderland of possibilities, aided by endless scrolls of social media that illuminate the global range of sour foods, from tamarind to pomegranate molasses to chamoy, a seasoning of Mexican tanned pickled fruit. “When you discover new sour ingredients, it feels both familiar and exciting,” says Yasmin Shahida, who posts videos of herself eating under her account @traveleatnyc. “For me, restaurants are one of the most powerful ways to experience culture in its most sensory form.”
This sour taste has a real impact on consumption. National Restaurant News (NRN) reports that Yuzu saw it 29% increase On the restaurant menu since 2020. In 2024, kimchi’s Korean exports reached Record height.
There is a connection between fermented foods like the rise of kimchi, probiotics and wellness culture, but what’s more persuasive, at least for me, is that sour flavors are more important than ever, as they add energy to things that are out of reach. “Sourness brings contrast, balance, diversity and zing,” Mark Diacono writes in his cookbook sour: a magical element that will change your cooking.
Perhaps no one knows how to maintain a more sturdy, more stable topic than the chef. “Sours are everywhere, whether it’s cocktails, main courses, desserts, snacks,” says Roblabuba, executive chef at a vegan tasting menu restaurant. Oyster Oyster In Washington, DC. Rubba uses a diverse assortment of ripe fruits and fermentation in his dishes, as in his recent experiments with marigold vinegar. “There’s this tough, yuu vinegar (flavor) that’s really fun and funky,” he says. Chefs rely on natural acids as well as ingredients like powdered citric acid. Morin acid in a remarkably sour apple cider donut At Smithereens in New York City. “That’s the fun part,” says Rubba. “It makes me feel lively.”
All this story about chefs tinkering with flavors may raise doubts about reality, a familiar concern in the age of AI. But our bodies keep scores and our mouths feel true.
Speaking of the body, the literal, tasty response to mere suggestions of sourness may explain why the internet has become a hotbed of videos for people who endure pickles, especially the repellent/attractive tastes of sour foods like candy. “They’re also known as Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University,” said: Spence continues to describe simulations as “empathetic physiological responses” like next-level ASMR.
From sour grapes to the glowing tips of dill pickles and every moment of packering in between, it seems that people don’t get enough of this very realistic and very brave food trend.
The collision of sour candy with online media certainly has influenced a new generation of candy makers. Caleb Phelps is the co-founder of Sourboysthe Texas-based confectionery company sells gummies on a 1-5 sour scale (the top seller is the slightly more sour blue raspberry strips than the level 4 sour skittle). Phelps is a professional YouTuber, but he started a sour candy brand. “I don’t know how it tastes, but I want to eat it,” says Phelps.
Companies like Sourboys can also be considered derivatives of the extreme Chili pepper fandom. Customers encourage more and more spicy levels of hot sauce to test their pain threshold. Professor Oxford Spence points out that these are the literal opposite of comfort food. Or, it’s all just a small part of the shift towards extreme flavors. Bolder, more spicy, more intense. And most sour candies get shocking factors from powdered citric acid or malignant acids, so they can shrink these ingredients and not have much negative effects on sour ones. (But dentists may disagree, because about four people can run out of your enamel.)
Ultimately, as much of our lives revolve around digital spaces, the tendency to live on behalf of sour foods, both online and off, is still very relevant now. “Food is the fashion business,” says online retailer Christopher Anderson Modernist Pantryit sells cooking grade acids (he has seen that the rise of gummy edibles have been partially fuelled by the rise of gummy edibles, and acid sales have been on the rise over the years). Phelps likened bacon to its popularity 20 years ago.
Meanwhile, food companies have recently been cashing out by Warheads, an OG supersauce candy brand since the 1990s. collaboration Fruit riots and! Create a watermelon flavoured line of frozen grapes with an added bonus that looks healthy. To seduce nostalgic millennials, a company called iconic candy bought the Altoid and rebooted it. Retro Sour Early this year. In the drink sphere, the flavored syrup brand Monin declared Yuu Flavors for 2025. And finally, the kitchen of Viral Online Snack Company Padiano is on sale straight away Sour powderfor the devil who wants to cover his heart – video promotions show founder Paden Ferguson pours it into everything from carrots to popcorn.
And we, our customers, are buying it. In one particularly relevant video, Ferguson pours a mix of Quentic, Malick, Tartaric and Ascorbic acid powders over chocolate chip pancakes, and a comment from a fan named Rebecca Brown in the corner of the screen: “Stoppppppp 😩 I’ll read that. I’ll read that. Like the free fall of powder, like snow on the screen, I feel that familiar thorny, delicious desires are entrenched.
