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Pungency is the condition of having a strong, sharp smell or taste that is often so strong that it is unpleasant. ''Pungency'' is the technical term used by scientists to refer to the characteristic of food commonly referred to as spiciness or hotness and sometimes heat,〔 which is found in foods such as chili peppers. The term piquancy is sometimes applied to foods with a lower degree of pungency〔 that are "agreeably stimulating to the palate." Examples of piquant food include mustard and some strongly flavored tomatoes, as well as most foods that might be called "well-spiced." Pungency is associated with the sense of taste, and in various Asian countries it has traditionally been considered a basic taste. ==Terminology== The terms "pungent" and "pungency" are rarely used in colloquial speech but are preferred by scientists as they eliminate the potential ambiguity arising from use of the words "hot" and "spicy", which can also refer to temperature and the presence of spices, respectively.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Why are not all chilies hot? A trade-off limits pungency )〕 For instance, a pumpkin pie can be both hot (out of the oven) and spicy (due to the common inclusion of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, mace, and cloves), but it is not ''pungent''. (A food critic may nevertheless use the word "piquant" to describe such a pie, especially if it is exceptionally well seasoned.) Conversely, pure capsaicin is pungent, yet it is not naturally accompanied by a hot temperature or spices. As the (Oxford ), (Collins ), and (Merriam-Webster ) dictionaries explain, the term "piquancy" refers to mild pungency〔 and flavors and spices that are much less strong than chilli peppers, including, for example, the strong flavor of some tomatoes. In other words, pungency always refers to a very strong taste whereas piquancy refers to any spices and foods that are "agreeably stimulating to the palate", in other words to food that is spicy in the general sense of "well-spiced". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pungency」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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