Taste Buds

Words: 783
Pages: 4

Taste buds detect five flavors in food: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. (Tamara p.46) “Umami is described as the savory taste in foods such as soy sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes” (Weir, p. 6). Some scientists believe that every single taste bud on the tongue detects all five of these flavors. Other scientists believe that the tip of the tongue detects sweet flavors, the sides close to the tip collect the salty flavors, the place behind the area that collects the salty flavors detects sour flavors, and the back of the tongue detects the bitter tastes. (Viegas) “Other tastes are a mixture of the four flavors on the tongue” (Hurwitz, p.13). Bitter tastes are very significant. When something tastes bitter the brain thinks that it might be poison. This can keep one from tasting something dangerous (Weir p. 6). Saliva can also be a helper in tasting one of these five main tastes. “When you eat, taste molecules in food dissolve into saliva, pass through the taste pore, and are detected by the receptor. Signals are sent from the receptors to the brain’s taste center, where the taste information is processed” (Walker, p. 78). Nine out of ten of one’s taste buds are found on the tongue; the other taste buds are …show more content…
A person could get some jelly beans, put their hand in the container and then close their eyes and plug their nose and put a jelly bean in their mouth. (Freiman p.22) “Without your sense of smell, says Kurtz, the only thing you can say is that the candies all taste ‘sweet’” (Freiman. p. 22). However, if the person unplugs their nose they will find that the jelly bean eaten was a strawberry, green apple etc. flavor. In the next experiment, a person could get a potato and an apple, cut a slice from each, then plug their nose and taste each one. The person will find that they both taste similar and that it is hard to find a difference between the two. (Viegas,