Abstract: Objective: To explore the real taste characteristics and the application rules of sweeteners for 25 bitter Chinese herbs
commonly used in clinic. Methods: The volunteer visual analogue scoring method was used to classify the real taste of 25 kinds of
Chinese herbs, and grasp the main taste, taste grade, perception position and perception trend of each kind of Chinese herb. 11 kinds of
common sweeteners were selected, and the exclusive sweeteners that can effectively mask the bad taste of the above Chinese herbs were
matched through the volunteer tasting experiment. Results: The main tastes of different Chinese herbs were different. Huanglian and Longdan had intense bitterness, and Longdan had astringency; Huangbai and Chuanxinlian had strong bitterness, and Chuanxinlian had astringency; 13 herbs, such as Yanhusuo and Lianzixin, had obvious bitterness, and the aftertaste disappeared 3-4 minutes after spitting the liquid; Kuxingren and Yinchen had slight bitterness, and the aftertaste disappeared 1-3 minutes after spitting the liquid; Ganjiang had obvious spicy taste. The results of the specificity of sweeteners showed that the most suitable sweetener for Chuanxinlian was sucralose; for Longdan and Huangbai, it was neotame; for Huajuhong and Zhishi, it was mogroside; for Baibu and Zhebeimu, it was stevioside; for Lianqiao, it was aspartame; for Qinghao, it was glycyrrhizin; for Sanqi, it was acesulfame-K. Conclusion: The main taste of the above-mentioned Chinese herbs is bitter, and 3/5 of
them have concurrent tastes; the taste perception site of the vast majority of Chinese herbs is in the back of the mouth, and the spicy
taste perception is in the front of the tongue. According to the analysis of taste characteristics of 21 kinds of Chinese herbs, stevioside,
mogroside, sucralose and glycyrrhizin are suitable for suppressing the bitterness of most bitter Chinese herbs.

Key words: taste-masking of Chinese herbs, taste evaluation, sweetener, bitterness inhibition, real taste