Kitchen Science 12Little Helpers, ages 4 to 615 min

Taste with Your Nose: The Vanilla Test

Big question: Can you taste vanilla with your nose pinched shut?

Pinch your nose, bite a vanilla cookie, then let go, and discover that most of what you call taste is really smell.

Taste with Your Nose: The Vanilla Test

What you need

  • 2 vanilla cookies
  • A small cup of plain milk
  • A small cup of strawberry milk
  • A glass of water
  • A clean scarf for a blindfold

What to do

  1. Get readyWash your hands first and check every ingredient with your grown-up. Sip some water so your mouth starts fresh.
  2. Pinch and bitePinch your nose shut, take a bite of cookie and chew slowly. What can you taste? Probably just sweet.
  3. Let goKeep chewing, let go of your nose and breathe out through it. Did the vanilla flavor rush in?
  4. The milk mysteryYour grown-up ties the blindfold loosely over your eyes, then you pinch your nose. Your grown-up hands you plain milk and strawberry milk in a secret order. One may taste sweeter, but can you taste strawberry? Try again with your nose open.
  5. Swap jobsNow blindfold your grown-up and test them. Do they do any better?

What is happening?

Your taste buds, tiny tasting spots on your tongue, sense only five tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savory. Your nose can tell apart a huge number of smells. As you chew, smells drift up the back of your mouth into your nose, and your brain blends them with taste into flavor. Vanilla is nearly all smell, so with your nose pinched the cookie just tastes sweet. That is also why food tastes dull when you have a cold.

Only taste foods your grown-up has checked for allergies. Sit at the table for every taste, take small bites and sips, and chew well. Let go of your nose any time you need a breath. Your grown-up ties the blindfold loosely over your eyes, and you can take it off any time.

Try it

Check yourself

1. What five tastes can your taste buds sense?

Show answer

Sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savory.

2. Why did the cookie taste plain with your nose pinched?

Show answer

The vanilla smell could not reach your nose.

3. Why does food taste dull when you have a cold?

Show answer

A stuffy nose cannot smell, so most of the flavor is lost.