What makes a food taste sweet?

Remember the taste of a sweet bite of food. Perhaps you picture bread with a little sugar on top. A bite like that has its own sweet taste. What makes a food taste sweet?

For that sugary bread, the answer starts with sugar. Those little grains give the bread its sweet taste. The sprinkle holds lots of grains, each a tiny bit of sugar. Let's follow what happens when a bite reaches your mouth.

Your mouth has watery spit inside it. The spit wets the sugar in your bite. It reaches the grains as you move the bite around. Now the little grains have water around them, ready for the next step.

The sugar grains dissolve, which means spreading into the water. They become too small to see, but the sugar stays there. You cannot pick out a whole grain with your eyes now. The water carries it through your mouth.

Once the grains dissolve, the sugary water touches your tongue. Your tongue can notice sugar, even when you cannot see it. That makes your tongue a handy helper with this bite. What do you think your tongue does next?

Your tongue sends a message to your brain. That message tells your brain about the sugar in your mouth. It travels inside you, without a sound. You don't have to say a word to send that message.

Your brain uses that message to recognize the sweet taste. That's how you taste the sweetness in your bite of bread. You don't need to see the sugar to taste it. Your brain has the message it needs, right inside your head.

Dissolve. Sugar makes food taste sweet when your tongue notices it and tells your brain.

May your next sweet bite bring a little smile.