What is the "sourest" edible fruit?

Im not sure its possible to tell, because as far as I know theres no measurment for sour taste.


Its so I can buy one for a cooking novelty. I already keep a bag of Naga Jolokias, the hottest fruit, in my salad drawer. I heard somewhere that its ment to be Kumquats or Soursap. But Ive tried both fruits and they weren't that sour.


A scientific awnser would be great. Cheers, Gavin.

What is the "sourest" edible fruit?
The Tamarind fruit is the most sour edible fruit on the planet.





Tamarinds are evergreen trees that can grow to 80 feet high. The fruit of this tree is a 3 - 8 inch long, brown, irregularly curved pods. As the pods mature, they fill out somewhat and the juicy, acidulous pulp turns brown or reddish-brown. When fully ripe, the shells are brittle and easily broken. The pulp dehydrates to a sticky paste enclosed by a few coarse stands of fiber. The pods may contain from 1 to 12 large, flat, glossy brown, obovate seeds embedded in the brown, edible pulp.





To make use of the edible sour pulp, you soak the pods and then blend with enough water to form a paste in your blender. You then strain through cheese cloth to form a tamarind sauce. Some times you have to take the tamarind juice and put it back in the blender with a few teaspoons of the pulp left behind in the cheese cloth to thicken it up a bit.





It is very good and what makes it so unique is that it is the most sour edible fruit on the planet. Much more sour than limes. Matter of fact, you have actually tasted tamarind before if you have ever ate "Sour Balls" hard candy. Many commercial candy companies use tamarind extract in their sour candies.





Most of its colloquial names are variations on the common English term. In Spanish and Portuguese, it is tamarindo; in French, tamarin, tamarinier, tamarinier des Indes, or tamarindier; in Dutch and German, tamarinde; in Italian, tamarandizio; in Papiamiento of the Lesser Antilles, tamarijn. In the Virgin Islands, it is sometimes called taman; in the Philippines, sampalok or various other dialectal names; in Malaya, asam jawa; in India, it is tamarind or ambli, imli, chinch, etc.; in Cambodia, it is ampil or khoua me; in Laos, mak kham; in Thailand, ma-kharm; in Vietnam, me.





You can also have more info at this address


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind





I hope you will find my research satisfactory.





PS: You can find small blocks of seedless tamarind pulp for a few bucks at most Asian grocery stores.
Reply:Lemons and Limes
Reply:Fruit varies, even within the same group. I've had lemons from the same tree have different "sourness" -- but overall I would say the lemon is the most sour to me, but I love it.





I've also hear that the fruit of a hybrid orange-lemon-naartjie tree is the most sour - but I have no first hand (or is that first tongue) evidence.