[CrimpJiggler]

I've been tasting various non toxic alkali and alkaline earth metal salts and have found a definite pattern. Its usually the cation that gives the salt its taste. Sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate all have that salty sodium chloride taste. Its clearly sodium that is responsible for that taste. Potassium on the other hand tastes like liquorice. I tasted some calcium chloride expecting it to taste chalky like the other calcium salts I've tasted but I instantly felt this burning sensation on my tongue which left a tangy aftertaste. This was anhydrous CaCl2 so maybe the burning sensation was my tongue being rapidly dehydrated. Magnesium has a fresh, watery taste to it. Is this a common theme, i.e. is it usually the cation that is responsible for a salts taste? I have very limited experience with this since I only taste salts that I obtained from food grade products to avoid the risk of ingesting any highly toxic impurities that might be present in lower grade substances. So far I've only tasted salts with halides, gluconate and sulphate as the anion but every time, it was the cation that gave the salt its taste.

I neutralised lemon juice with Na2CO3 before and remember that the resulting solution tasted kind of lemony without the bitterness associated with citric acid but I don't know if it was the citrate anion or other compounds present that caused the lemony taste.

EDIT: I just tasted some potassium bromide and noticed that it does not have a liqourice taste at all. It has a sodium chloride type taste but much sharper. I see now that this is a pretty pointless thread as one can easily find information on the taste of all the common salts on the internet. I just never decided to start tasting compounds until recently so I'm pretty fascinated by it now.

[Borek]

I see now that this is a pretty pointless thread

Which is one of the reasons why it will be locked. The other being it is a good habit to AVOID tasting chemicals, just in case.