- Taste itself is focused on distinguishing chemicals that have a sweet, salty, sour, or bitter taste. Tastants, are detected by taste buds, special structures embedded within small protuberances on the tongue called papillae. Other taste buds are found in the back of the mouth and on the palate. The tongue is capable of having 10,00 taste buds; each taste bud consists of 50 to 100 specialized sensory cells, stimulated by tastants such as: sugars, salts, and acids.
- However, since most of what people perceive as "taste" actually results from their sense of smell, interactions between the senses of taste and smell enhance the perceptions of the foods we eat. When eating or drinking the aroma released from the product provides an anticipation of the flavor about to be tasted. Giving the person the perception that the aroma they are smelling is a flavor they are tasting.