Taste Buds Quiz: How Taste and Smell Work
Taste buds
The bumps on your tongue are called papillae. Your taste buds sit on and around them, and each taste bud holds about 50 to 100 taste cells. You also have taste buds on the roof of your mouth and in your throat.
Taste cells are worn out quickly by eating and drinking, so they're replaced about every two weeks.
Scientists usually list five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami, a savory taste found in foods like cheese, tomatoes and broth. Each taste bud can sense all five.
Tastes that protect us
Our sense of taste helped our ancestors survive. Sweetness signals energy-rich food, and salt is something the body needs. Many poisons taste bitter, so we're especially sensitive to bitterness, and children even more so.
Some people, called supertasters, have more taste buds than average and find bitter foods like coffee or Brussels sprouts especially strong.
Different animals taste different things. Cats, which are strict meat-eaters, can't taste sweetness at all.
Smell does most of the work
Much of what we call flavor actually comes from smell. As you chew, smells rise from the back of your mouth into your nose. That's why food tastes bland when you have a blocked nose.
Some sensations in the mouth aren't tastes at all. The burn of chili peppers comes from a chemical called capsaicin, which triggers pain and heat sensors. Mint feels cool because menthol triggers cold sensors.
Texture and temperature matter too: the same drink can taste sweeter warm than cold.