OUR AMAZING SENSE OF TASTE
The tongue is covered with little bumps. Inside each ump are tiny organs called taste buds. There are about 3,000 taste buds on your tongue! There are also taste buds in three places inside your throat. Your taste buds work together in groups in different areas of your tongue and throat to help your recognize different tastes. They allow you to detect sweet, sour, salty and bitter tastes.
When food is placed inside your mouth, the chemicals in it cause your taste buds to carry messages through nerve cells to your brain. Your brain then tells you what kinds of tastes you are experiencing. Your tongue and the food you are eating must be moist for the taste buds to work, so your mouth releases saliva to mix with dry foods and moisten your tongue when you eat.