Sour taste of vinegar is due to
None of these
Vinegar owes its sour taste to acetic acid, which is not among the three named, so the answer is “None of these” — option 4.
What vinegar is. Vinegar is a dilute solution of acetic acid, CH3COOH, usually 4 to 8 per cent by volume in water, produced by the bacterial oxidation of ethanol :
\(\text{C}_{2}\text{H}_{5}\text{OH}+\text{O}_{2}\xrightarrow{\ \text{Acetobacter}\ }\text{CH}_{3}\text{COOH}+\text{H}_{2}\text{O}\)
A 5 to 8 per cent solution of pure acetic acid in water is sold as vinegar; the pure acid, which freezes just below room temperature into ice-like crystals, is called glacial acetic acid.
Where the three named acids actually occur. This is the table the question is really testing :
| Acid | Found in |
|---|---|
| Tartaric acid | Tamarind, grapes; also in baking powder as cream of tartar |
| Lactic acid | Curd and sour milk; also builds up in muscles during hard exercise |
| Citric acid | Lemon, orange and other citrus fruits |
| Acetic acid | Vinegar |
| Oxalic acid | Tomato, spinach |
| Formic acid | Ant sting, nettle sting |
| Malic acid | Apple |
| Butyric acid | Rancid butter |
Why the answer is an option-of-exclusion. The question is designed so that a candidate who knows only that vinegar is acidic will pick whichever acid sounds most familiar. The safe method is to identify the acid first — acetic — and only then look at the list. Since it is absent, “None of these” must be right.
Uses of vinegar follow from its acidity: it is a preservative, because most spoilage bacteria cannot grow at low pH; it is used in pickling, in salad dressing, and as a mild descaling agent for the calcium carbonate deposits in kettles.
Hence, the answer is None of these.
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