A few weeks ago, we wrote about using a jelly bean activity in our International Baccalaureate professional development workshop. Recently, Daisy Yuhas of Scientific American blogged about a similar taste test. Yuhas goes into detail about how the experiment works. Given that this is the time of year when we all eat extra sweets, and that this activity is great for students both young and old, we thought we’d share what Yuhas has to say about the jelly bean taste test.
When we eat something, we rely on a combination of senses in order to taste the flavor of our food. Looking at food, we make assumptions about what we think it will taste like. For example, if you see a red jelly bean, you might expect it to be strawberry flavored. If you see a black jelly bean, you’d probably expect licorice. Sight is the first sense we use when we encounter food. Once we decide to put something in our mouths, taste and smell take over to help us enjoy (or not, as the case may be) the flavors. How does this work?
Our noses have millions of receptors that help us to smell different things – including food. We smell food by sniffing it, or by breathing through our noses as we chew. Since the back of our throats connect our noses and mouths, breathing through our noses when we eat helps us to experience a food’s flavor. Yuhas writes that “[w]hile you are eating, your brain receives signals from both your mouth and nose, allowing you to recognize whatever tasty treat you happen to be chewing.” The jelly bean taste test helps students separate the functions of their noses and mouths so that they can see how each of these two senses helps them to taste a particular food.
For this activity, you’ll need the following:
- three different flavors of jelly beans (fruit and cinnamon flavors are great)
- pencil and paper
- plastic sandwich bags
- small paper cups
Before class starts, take three plastic bags and put one flavor of jelly bean into each bag. For example, put all of the cinnamon jelly beans in one bag, the apple ones in a second bag, and the grape ones in a third bag. When you’re ready to do the activity in class, complete the following steps:
Put your students into groups of two or more and tell them to have a pencil and paper ready.
- Give each student a paper cup.
- Pass around the bags of jelly beans, and instruct your students to take two of each jelly bean and put it into their cups.
- Based entirely on what they see, have your students write down what flavors they think the jelly beans are.
- Tell your students to pinch their noses shut and taste one of each flavored jelly bean. After tasting each one, have them write down what they think each flavor is. After they’ve eaten the first round of jelly beans, have them compare notes. What did they taste? Could they discern the flavors with their noses pinched?
- Then, have your students eat the second of each jelly bean, this time with their noses un-pinched. Again, have them record the flavors they taste. What did they taste this time?
Once the taste test is complete, have a group discussion with your entire class in which you reveal what each flavor is. Ask your students what they tasted with their noses pinched versus eating while breathing through their noses. When our noses are pinched, some people can only taste that the candy is sweet without tasting a particular flavor. Some people report that the candy tastes like wax and that they don’t taste any sweetness at all. But when we breathe through our noses while eating, our sense of taste and sense of smell combine to tell our brains what flavor it is that we’re eating.
This is a great activity to do with students of all ages, particularly around the holiday time, when children can be excited and eager for interactive classes. This is also an experiment that they could do at home with their parents/guardians. By teaching others about the way sight, smell, and taste combine, they will be reinforcing these concepts for themselves, and having fun in the process.
Source: Yuhas, Daisy. Savory Science: Jelly Bean Taste Test. Scientific American. 22 November 2012.