Barbara K. Richardson
  • Books
  • Info
  • Blog

The Tip o' Your Tongue

11/13/2011

1 Comment

 
May be a body part with which you are unfamiliar. Oh, you think you know it. You've dipped it in soft ice cream and scalded it with coffee. But do you know if you’re a SUPERTASTER? Have you considered the humble taste bud? Are you in the mood for some late night fun?
Picture
Cut out a small square of white paper, approximately 1” x 1”.

Punch a 7 millimeter hole in it (a hole punch works perfectly!).

Now take blue food coloring. And with a Q-tip, paint the end of your tongue midnight blue.
Picture


Place the white paper with the hole right over the tip of your tongue. It will adhere due to your spit.

Now have a friend with a magnifying glass count the number of taste buds within that 7 mm hole.

If you have more than 35 taste buds (the raised round “pink” domes dotting your tongue), you are a SUPERTASTER. My entire household qualified.



Supertasters react to flavors far more strongly than 75% of us do. If you count 15-35 buds, you’re a medium taster (50% of the population). Fewer than 15 buds on that tongue tip, and you’re classified a “non-taster.”
Picture
Here's a non-dyed tongue tip. And here's a YouTube video on SUPERTASTERS.
Picture



This may explain why SPAM was such a popular treat: 75%
of us can't really
taste it!

1 Comment
Caren Nelson link
11/17/2011 08:20:08 am

Uh-oh, I'm a Supertaster who loves Spam! :o)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    All Lit Up:
    love, mayhem, literature
    __________

    Categories

    All
    Environment
    Miscellany
    Reading
    Simple Living
    Spirit
    Trees
    Winter
    Writing


    Favorite quotes:

    "Let your fiction grow out of the land beneath your feet.” 
    —Willa Cather

    "Nothing is as powerful as beauty in a wicked world."
    ​—Amos Lee
    ​

    Favorite place:

    The middle of nowhere.
    ​

    Currently reading:

    Curse of the Pogo Stick
    The Maytrees 

    Just finished reading:

    Finding Stillness in a Noisy World
    ​

    Favorite blog:

    One Woman's Meat: Notes from Escalante

    Picture