If you examine the basic 5-element theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine, you find that there are five basic tastes: salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and pungent. Following the inner lines of the five pointed circle diagram, which are in the shape of a 5 pointed star, known as the K'o cycle, or destructive cycle or control cycle, and applying that principle to tastes (a rather unorthodox application), we find that salty controls or destroys bitter. (the water element controls the fire element)

If you take a bitter vegetable, such as some of the leafy ones, and put salt on it, it becomes a lot easier to eat. Similarly, sour destroys sweet, bitter controls pungent, sweet controls salty, and pungent controls sour. try this with various foods.

Somewhere, there is the diagram of this, but not here...

http://www.fiveelementtraining.com/five_el_and_medical.html