Taste is one of our most fascinating senses—shaping our cravings, memories, and even our culture. But there’s more to flavor than meets the tongue. From fruits that trick your taste buds to historical dishes with shocking ingredients, the world of taste is filled with strange and surprising facts. Did you know there’s a fruit that tastes like chocolate pudding or that cats can’t taste sweetness at all? In this article, we explore 50 curious and quirky facts about taste that will make you look at food (and flavor) in a whole new way.
1 Red Delicious’ Flavor Decline
The once-tasty “Red Delicious” apple has significantly declined in quality. Supermarkets aimed to extend the apple’s shelf life, but the juiciest, best-tasting apples tend to spoil faster. As a result, selective breeding transformed the Red Delicious into a firmer and shinier, yet less flavorful, apple.
2. A Japanese brand has developed an innovative spoon that enhances the salty taste of food without adding salt. It works by transmitting a weak electric field that concentrates sodium ions on the tongue, amplifying the perception of saltiness.
3. Lead(II) acetate, known for its sweet taste, was historically used as an artificial sweetener. Romans would boil unfiltered grape juice in lead pots to create a syrup for sweetening wine and fruit. However, like many lead compounds, it is highly neurotoxic.
4. Pine Mouth is a condition that can result from eating pine nuts, leaving a lingering metallic taste in the mouth that may last for weeks.
5. After consuming the “miracle fruit” (Synsepalum dulcificum), sour foods taste sweet for about 15 to 30 minutes. This fruit releases a sweetening compound that temporarily alters taste perception, making lemons taste like candy and masking the sourness of other foods.
6 Monkeys Prefer Salty Potatoes
Monkeys in Japan learned to wash sweet potatoes in fresh water to clean them. Interestingly, they later switched to washing them in salt water, likely preferring the enhanced salty flavor over the plain taste.
7. Between 3% and 21% of the population possess a genetic variation in the olfactory receptor gene (OR6A2), which makes cilantro taste unpleasant. Those with this variant often describe cilantro’s flavor as reminiscent of soap, vomit, or even the odor of stinkbugs.
8. The first artificial sweetener, saccharin, was discovered by accident. A chemist who forgot to wash his hands after work noticed an “unspeakably sweet” taste during supper. Curious, he abandoned his meal and began tasting the beakers in his lab-fortunately, none contained anything toxic.
9. Major orange juice producers add chemical fragrances known as “flavor packs” to their products. These additives restore the signature taste lost during the pasteurization and deoxygenation processes.
10. Babies are born with about 30,000 taste buds, but as they grow into adulthood, the number decreases to around 10,000.
11 Toothpaste Alters Taste Perception
Sodium laureth sulfate, a common ingredient in toothpaste, suppresses the ability to taste sweetness. This is why drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth often results in a strange, unpleasant taste.
12. Since the 1990s, Brussels sprouts have been systematically bred to be less bitter and more flavorful, leading to their growing popularity in modern cuisine.
13. The fruit Monstera deliciosa can cause severe throat and skin irritation due to its oxalic acid content-an ingredient also found in rust cleaners-unless it is fully ripe. Once the green outer scales naturally fall off, it becomes safe to eat and offers a flavor blend of pineapple, banana, and coconut. Fittingly, its scientific name means “delicious monster.”
14. The giant tortoise went without a scientific name for over 300 years because sailors frequently ate the specimens on voyages back to Europe as they were apparently so delicious. Even Charles Darwin reportedly indulged, delaying the tortoise’s formal classification.
15. Scientists have identified a sixth basic taste-ammonium chloride-adding to the established tastes of salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami. This taste can signal toxicity, but it’s also enjoyed in Nordic cultures as the key flavor in salty licorice.
16 Chocolate Pudding Fruit Discovery
There’s a unique fruit called Diospyros nigra, or black sapote, native to Central and South America. Often referred to as the “chocolate pudding fruit,” it offers a taste reminiscent of chocolate and sweet custard when fully ripe.
17. During the reign of King Louis XIV, the pairing of salt and pepper gained popularity. The king disliked dishes with overpowering flavors, and pepper was the only spice that complemented salt without overwhelming the palate.
18. Cotton candy grapes are a unique variety that taste remarkably like cotton candy. Created by horticulturist David Cain, these grapes resulted from breeding thousands of test tube plants-over 100,000 trials-before achieving the perfect flavor.
19. The historic Aldgate Pump in London, once celebrated for its “sparkling, agreeable” water, was later discovered to be contaminated. Minerals from decomposing flesh and bones in nearby cemeteries had leached into the water, leading to hundreds of deaths.
20. Apples originated in Kazakhstan, and wild varieties can offer flavors reminiscent of roses, strawberries, popcorn, anise, and more. Interestingly, 90% of modern apple varieties can be traced back to just two ancestral trees.
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21 Cyanide’s Confirmed Taste Experience
The reason we know what cyanide tastes like is due to an Indian man, MP Prasad, who tragically committed suicide. In a hastily written note, he described the experience: “Doctors, potassium cyanide. I have tasted it. It burns the tongue and tastes acrid.” His words resolved a long-standing mystery.
22. We actually taste only about 20% of the salt on potato chips. In response, Lay’s developed a new salt shape that delivered the same salty flavor while using 25% less salt.
23. Contrary to the popular belief that “New Coke” was a marketing ploy, the real reason for its launch was that it consistently outperformed Pepsi and Coca-Cola Classic in blind taste tests. In fact, it performed so well that one bottling company even threatened to sue Coca-Cola if they didn’t release the new product.
24. In blind taste tests, Pepsi activated more dopamine receptors than Coca-Cola. However, once participants were told they were drinking Coke, it became the greater dopamine-producing beverage-even when they were deceived. This result was likely due to Coca-Cola’s powerful marketing influence.
25. Babies cannot taste salt until they are around three months old. However, once they develop the ability, they tend to show a clear preference for salty water.
RE: Fact #31 (Bacon-Flavored Seaweed Discovery) – I’ve heard this story forever! It’s gotta be a myth, or some experiment that’ll never happen.
RE: Fact #10 (Babies’ Taste Bud Decline) – Why’s my little one not into fancy scotch and cheese?
RE: Fact #50 (Cats’ Unique Meat Taste Perception) – Why the parentheses around “meat”? Just ’cause tissue has ATP doesn’t automatically make it meat. ATP is super common in muscle, sure, because muscles need a ton of it for movement. But every single cell in your body uses ATP, not just muscles.
RE: Fact #2 (Electric Spoon Enhances Saltiness) – It’s not quite like salt, though. It just makes things salty, it doesn’t really *enhance* the flavor. Salt’s the best because you add a little bit at a time, building flavor as you go. These spoons? They just make it salty.
RE: Fact #37 (Sriracha’s Recipe Controversy) – The taste of sriracha always changed a bit, depending on the chili peppers – different seasons, different peppers. They never really tried to make every batch taste exactly the same.
It’s a bummer, really. They had this awesome partnership for about 25 years. As sriracha got more popular, they’d tell the farmer how much they needed, and he’d hire more people and get more land. They treated him really well, never tried to screw him over. It was a true partnership.
RE: Fact #32 (Delicacy of Termite Queens) – So, what’s foie gras like, taste-wise?
RE: Fact #31 (Bacon-Flavored Seaweed Discovery) – I’m betting it doesn’t actually taste like bacon.
RE: Fact #7 (Cilantro’s Soap Taste Gene) – There are tons of foods like that. Bell peppers are one, but fewer people are sensitive to them.
For some people, bell peppers taste awful, like dirt.
I wonder if cilantro sensitivity varies across different groups, since Pho seems to be half cilantro – that’s why I love it!
RE: Fact #5 (Miracle Fruit Alters Flavors) – The sugar industry fought tooth and nail to ban it as a food additive, even though food scientists were exploring ways to use it as a sugar substitute.
RE: Fact #23 (The Truth About New Coke) – They stopped making the original recipe later that week. That was a huge problem. People weren’t bothered by New Coke itself, but they were furious they couldn’t get the old stuff anymore. They brought out Coke Classic eventually, but the damage was done—people boycotted New Coke just out of spite.
RE: Fact #34 (Judgment of Paris Wine Revolution) – After Uncle Carlos died, my siblings and I cleaned out his place. We found this old bottle of Stag’s Leap wine – from ’74 or so, the one that made Napa famous. We were totally blown away! Turns out, the old hermit had a secret life as a wine guy. So we opened it up… and the joke was on us. He’d used that fancy bottle to age his *own* homemade wine, which was, well, awful. Really, really bad.
RE: Fact #1 (Red Delicious’ Flavor Decline) – They’re practically fake.
RE: Fact #47 (Carbon Dioxide’s Fizzy Taste) – I can’t stand that bubbly feeling in carbonated drinks. In 37 years, I’ve probably only had six packs worth of soda total—only when I was desperate and super thirsty, or that one time in high school I bet a dollar on it. I hate beer for the same reason.
People gave me weird looks as a kid for not liking soda, and I still get them as an adult for not liking beer. Now I just say I hate the taste of carbon dioxide—it sounds a bit better, I guess.
RE: Fact #12 (Brussels Sprouts’ Taste Evolution) – So, it turns out there’s no such thing as a “Brussel sprout”—it’s always “Brussels sprout.” Always add the “s”!
RE: Fact #38 (Algorithm-Crafted Orange Juice) – I just learned Coca-Cola makes Simply Orange juice!
RE: Fact #17 (Salt and Pepper’s Royal Rise) – It was simpler than that. Louis XIV had a really sensitive stomach – most spices besides salt and pepper gave him indigestion. He was a fussy eater because a lot of food made him ill. Before his time, fancy meals were loaded with spices, especially among the wealthy since spices were pricey; it showed off their money. Louis XIV loved rich food, but hated strong seasonings.
RE: Fact #40 (Taste Recovery After Quitting Smoking) – Twelve years later, I’m still blown away by how much better my sense of smell is. It’s mostly noticing other people’s smoke, though. Before, I’d have laughed if someone said they could smell a smoker in a passing car – now I totally get it. I’ve smelled smokers from two blocks away!
RE: Fact #16 (Chocolate Pudding Fruit Discovery) – It doesn’t taste much like chocolate, it just looks like chocolate pudding.
RE: Fact #25 (Babies’ Delayed Salt Perception) – Turns out, growing up on a low-salt diet makes you crave salty stuff later on.
RE: Fact #28 (Chicken of the Woods Mushroom) – Heads up before you go crazy with this mushroom meat substitute: A few folks get a bit sick after eating it – nausea, vomiting, swollen lips, that sort of thing. So, start with a tiny bit to see how you react. Don’t gobble a whole bunch down right away! And steer clear of the ones growing on eucalyptus or conifers; those seem to cause more problems.
RE: Fact #44 (Medieval Urine Tasting Diagnosis) – That diagnostic method was around way longer than the Middle Ages.