~ jelly bean experiment

Today I was experiencing the difference between eating and tasting jelly beans with you nose blocked and unblocked.

Question: Do our taste buds require smell?

Hypothesis: I think that when I pop the jelly bean in my mouth and I’ve blocked my nose, at first all I’ll taste is the sugar, and when I unblock my nose, I’ll be able to recognise the flavour, easily.

Materials:

• Your hand / Blindfold
• Your nose
• Your mouth
• Packet of jelly beans
• 
  

Procedure:

1. Close your eyes or put on a blindfold
2. Block your nose
3. Put a jelly bean in your mouth
4. Record the jelly bean you taste
5. Unblock your nose
6. Taste again
7. Then record the flavour you taste

Observations: When I put the jelly bean in my mouth with my nose blocked, all I could taste was the sugar, which was delicious. I had a guess of what the flavour was, floating around in my head. But, when I unblocked my nose, I could taste the flavour immediately which was lime.

Conclusion: My hypothesis was actually correct. I think that my guess was close to what I experienced when I was tasting the jelly bean because what happened when I was experiencing the jelly bean, is what I guessed was going to happen.