How the temperature of food affects our taste
Have you ever noticed all of those bumps on your tongue? Those are called papillae and most of them contain taste buds. Taste buds have very sensitive microscopic hairs called microvilli. Those tiny hairs send messages to the brain about how something tastes, so you know if it's sweet, sour, bitter, or salty. Did you know that the average person has about 10,000 taste buds that are replaced every 2 weeks or so. But as a person ages, some of those taste cells don't get replaced. An older person may only have 5,000 working taste buds. That's why certain foods may taste stronger to children than they do to adults. Smoking also can reduce the number of taste buds a person has. But before you give taste buds all the credit for your favorite flavors, it's important to thank your nose. Olfactory receptors inside the uppermost part of the nose contain special cells that help you smell. They send messages to the brain.
Here's how it works: While you're chewing or drinking, the food or drink releases chemicals that immediately travel up into your nose. These chemicals trigger the olfactory receptors inside the nose. They work together with your taste buds to create the true flavor of item by telling the brain all about it.
This experiment will show how the temperature of our food will influence our taste sensation. The taste buds on our tongues, that we just discussed, are sensitive to temperature. Hence, in order to taste the full flavor of the food that we eat, should we eat it when served piping hot, warm, or cool?
Hypothesis
As the temperature of sweetened water is increased, our ability to distinguish between a sweeter and a less sweet liquid is improved.
Overview : Sense of taste
Taste enables us to appreciate the flavors in our food. It is this ability that helps us discern the different flavors in our food and heightens our enjoyment of the food. The 4 basic types of taste are sweet, sour, salty and bitter. We are able to perceive taste with our tongues due to the specific areas of our tongue which are sensitive to that taste. The taste buds in these specific zones help up taste our food. When food comes into contact with our taste buds, an electric signal is generated in our tongue. This electric signal is then sent to the brain through our nerves and we immediately recognize the taste.
Scientific terms
Taste bud=contain the receptors for taste. They are located around the small structures on the upper surface of the tongue, soft palate, upper esophagus and epiglottis. These structures are involved in detecting the five (known) elements of taste perception: salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and savory
Senses= are the physiological methods of perception.
Nerves=is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of peripheral axons (the long, slender projections of neurons). A nerve provides a common pathway for the electrochemical nerve impulses that are transmitted along each of the axons.
Materials
20 male and 20 female participants
6 jugs labeled A, B, C, D, E and F
240 plastic spoons for tasting
40 plastic cups
1 wooden spatula to mix sugar and water
1 packet of sugar
6 liters of cold drinking water
Thermometer
Oven
Refrigerator
Spoon to mix the sugar
Small weighing machine to measure 20g to 100g weight.
Procedure
1. For this experiment, the independent variable is the sweetness of the water and the temperature of the sweetened water. The dependent variable is the perceived sweetness of a sample from each jug by the participants. This is determined by having the participants do a taste test and through filling in a simple questionnaire. The constants (control variables) are sugar as the taste element.
2. The sugar is added and mixed with the drinking water inside the jugs according to the ratio given in the table below. The jugs are also marked accordingly.
Mixture Sugar Water
Jug A 10 grams 1 liter
Jug B 20 grams 1 liter
Jug C 50 grams 1 liter
Jug D 60 grams 1 liter
Jug E 90 grams 1 liter
Jug F 100 grams 1 liter
Directions:
1. Put all jugs in the refrigerator/freezer to bring the temperature of the drinks to 10 0C.
2. Take out all the jugs and instruct the participants to use a plastic spoon to take a sample from each jug. They are to compare Jug A versus B, Jug C versus D and Jug E versus F.
3. After tasting the sample, they are to spit out the contents into a plastic cup.
4. Fill in the first column, ticking the 3 jugs that tasted sweeter when compared to the other sample. (e.g. Jug A is sweeter than Jug B. Therefore, tick A at 10 degrees Celsius)
5.The procedure above is repeated by bringing the temperature of the sweetened water to 20 0C (almost room temperature), 30 0C and 40 0C. (An oven maybe used to raise the temperature of the water.)
6. The participants are given a form to fill out the result of their tasting experiment. Calculate the number of ticks for each comparison and find the percentage that chose B over A, D over C and F over E.
7. Tabulate your results.
Observation/Conclusion
The hypothesis that increased temperature of the food increases our ability to distinguish sweetness levels is proven to be true. If we are able to perceive sweetness better with our tongues, when food is warmer, we can then cut down our sugar intake by switching from cold to hot drinks. This way, we will be consuming less sugar and satisfying our cravings at the same time! And a new study identified microscopic channels in our taste buds- termed TRPM5- as being responsible for different taste perception at different temperatures. According to the research, the reaction of TRPM5 in our taste buds is much more intense when the temperatue of food or fluid is increased, sending a stronger electrical signal to the brain and resulting in an enhanced taste.
Other things to consider
1. The experiment can also be done using salt instead of sugar.
2. What is the ideal temperatue of food for it be perceived as tasty?
3. Would placing a sweet at the back of our tongues result in a reduced ability to perceive or taste sweetness as compared to placing it at the front of the tongue?
4. Could having a cold change the outcome of this experiment?
Other Resources
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