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Abstract

You might have heard the saying "The eyes eat before the mouth." The appearance of food, especially its color, certainly affects how we perceive its taste. But can your eyes actually change the way you taste something? In this science project, you will find out by investigating how people perceive the taste of different colored apple juice. How do you think color affects taste?

Summary

Objective

Find out if color changes perception of taste.

Introduction

The taste buds on your tongue detect flavors and food groups, and help you identify the foods you eat. However, other senses play a role in how we experience food. You probably know that the smell of foods can have a strong effect on how they taste, but did you know that the appearance of food also changes how we experience it? Because we usually look at food before we put it in our mouths, the very first information your brain gets about any particular food comes from your eyes!

From an early age, we learn to associate colors with flavors. When something is orange, we expect an orange flavor. If you tasted green pudding, you would be surprised to find that it had a cherry flavor. Discrepancies between the appearance of food and their taste can make it more difficult to identify the flavoring.

Research has shown that the appearance of food can dramatically affect how it tastes. In one study, participants were served a meal of steak and French fries under dim light. All the participants said they enjoyed the food, and it tasted fine. However, when the lights were brightened, it was revealed that the steak was dyed blue, and the fries were dyed green. When they saw this, many of the participants refused to eat any more of the food, and a few even grew sick! In this experiment, you will explore how the appearance of the food we eat affects how it tastes. Do not worry-there will not be any blue steaks!

Terms and Concepts

Questions

Do you prefer certain types of foods that are a certain color? Do you associate that color with a flavor? For example, red cherry-flavored candy instead of green lime-flavored?

Do you think the color of a food or drink will affect how it tastes? What if the color is "unexpected" (for example, if red and green were switched for cherry and lime flavors)?

Bibliography

For help creating graphs, try this website:

National Center for Education Statistics, (n.d.). Create a Graph. Retrieved June 25, 2020.

Materials and Equipment

Volunteers (at least 3)

Large bottle of apple juice

Red, green, and blue food coloring

Clear disposable cups (4 per volunteer)

Permanent marker

Drinking glasses (1 per volunteer)

Water

Table where you and your volunteers can sit

Timer or stopwatch

Lab notebook

Experimental Procedure
Working with Human Test Subjects
There are special considerations when designing an experiment involving human subjects. Fairs affiliated with Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) often require an Informed Consent Form (permission sheet) for every participant who is questioned. Consult the rules and regulations of the science fair that you are entering, prior to performing experiments or surveys. Please refer to the Science Buddies documents Projects Involving Human Subjects and Scientific Review Committee for additional important requirements. If you are working with minors, you must get advance permission from the children's parents or guardians (and teachers if you are performing the test while they are in school) to make sure that it is all right for the children to participate in the science fair project. Here are suggested guidelines for obtaining permission for working with minors:

1. Write a clear description of your science fair project, what you are studying, and what you hope to learn. Include how the child will be tested. Include a paragraph where you get a parent's or guardian's and/or teacher's signature.

2. Print out as many copies as you need for each child you will be surveying.

3. Pass out the permission sheet to the children or to the teachers of the children to give to the parents. You must have permission for all the children in order to be able to use them as test subjects.

Note: It is important that your volunteers do not know that there is apple juice in each cup! You want your volunteers to be unbiased. Therefore, do not let them see you prepare the drinks ahead of time! However, you want the volunteers to be able to see the color of the prepared apple juice, which is why you need to use clear or transparent cups. Without seeing the color before drinking the juice, you won't be able to test if the color of the juice changes the perception of how the volunteers taste the juice.

1. Use your marker to number the clear cups. Label one fourth of the cups with the letter A, the next fourth with the letter B, the next fourth with the letter C, and the final fourth with the letter D.

2. Add about 1/4 cup of apple juice to each clear cup.

3. Line up all the cups labeled 'A' in a row, all cups labeled 'B' in a row, all the cups labeled 'C' in a row, and all the cups labeled 'D' in a row.

4. Add two drops of blue food coloring to the cups labeled A (add more food coloring if the color is not dark enough).

5. Add two drops of green food coloring to the cups labeled B (add more food coloring if the color is not dark enough).

6. Add two drops of red food coloring to the cups labeled C (add more food coloring if the color is not dark enough).

7. Do not add any food coloring to the cups labeled D.

8. Make a copy of Table 1 in your lab notebook.

1. Fill the three drinking glasses with filtered water.

2. Have your first volunteer sit down at the table. Line up a cup labeled A, B, C, and D in front of your volunteer. Also give them a glass of water.

3. Ask them to start by drinking some water to cleanse their palate, which means to clean and refresh their mouth before the experiment starts.

4. Tell your volunteer that you want them to taste the drink in cups A, B, C, and D, drinking water in between each. They have two minutes to taste the drinks. Once they have tasted the drink in each cup, they should rate them from the one they liked the best, to the one the liked the least. Your volunteer can taste each cup more than once, but they should drink water in between each taste.

5. Have your volunteer start the test. When they taste their first cup, start your timer or stopwatch. Do not answer any questions your volunteer asks you, or react to anything they say!

6. After two minutes, stop your timer and tell your volunteer to stop tasting.

7. Ask them which drink was their favorite. Their favorite drink will get 4 points. In the 'Volunteer 1' column, mark their favorite cup with the number '4.' For example, if your volunteer said they liked the drink cup B best, you would write the number 4 in the 'B' row under 'Volunteer 1.'

8. Ask your volunteer which drink they liked second best. Their second favorite drink will get 3 points. In the 'Volunteer 1' column, mark their second favorite cup with the number '3.'

9. Ask your volunteer which drink they liked least. Their least favorite drink will get 1 point. In the 'Volunteer 1' column, mark their least favorite cup with the number '1.'

10. Write the number '2' in the remaining row.

11. Repeat steps 9-17 with your remaining two or more volunteers. Record their responses in the corresponding columns.

12. Add the points across each row and record the totals in the 'Total' column. For example, if cup A was rated a 2, 1, and 2 by the three volunteers, you would record '5' in the Total column for cup A.

13. Which cup has the highest total? Which cup has the lowest total? Were there any patterns in which cup the volunteers seemed to prefer? How does this compare to your prediction about whether color affects taste?

Ask an Expert

Variations

Try this experiment with other liquids or solid foods.

Careers

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:

There is a fraction of the world's population that doesn't have enough to eat or doesn't have access to food that is nutritionally rich. Food scientists or technologists work to find new sources of food that have the right nutrition levels and that are safe for human consumption. In fact, our nation's food supply depends on food scientists and technologists that test and develop foods that meet and exceed government food safety standards. If you are interested in combining biology, chemistry,... Read more

Good taste, texture, quality, and safety are all very important in the food industry. Food science technicians test and catalog the physical and chemical properties of food to help ensure these aspects. Read more

News Feed on This Topic

Note: A computerized matching algorithm suggests the above articles. It's not as smart as you are, and it may occasionally give humorous, ridiculous, or even annoying results! Learn more about the News Feed

Cite This Page

General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including capitalization, for the method you are using and update your citation, as needed.

MLA Style

Arnett, Megan, and Ben Finio. "Does Color Affect Taste?" Science Buddies, 12 Apr. 2022, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/FoodSci_p081/cooking-food-science/does-color-affect-taste. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.

APA Style

Arnett, M., & Finio, B. (2022, April 12). Does Color Affect Taste? Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/FoodSci_p081/cooking-food-science/does-color-affect-taste

Explore Our Science Videos

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Does Color Affect Taste? | Science Project

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Find out of color affects taste in this food science project.

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To have get students to get excited about the new lesson teachers create a hook for the students. Teacher can show the students a clip or ask them a question. Students are then engaged with a challenging situation with prior knowledge about the lesson. The students then have to ponder the idea and come up with their own ideas. When students are working together they are engaged in the lesson that has been given to them by the teacher.
(Claudia)

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After the students are engaged, students will begin to ask clarifying questions such as, what is the problem we are trying to solve? What are we going to discover? What do we already know?

Next, students will then get a variety of transparent cups labeled with A, B, C, and D. Each cup will contain a different colored liquid (apple juice) which volunteers will try. The cup labeled D will not have any food coloring. Also, the students will not know that the liquid is apple juice to remain unbiased. Once the volunteers taste each cup, they will choose their favorite and record it on a data sheet with a partner.

(Gabby)

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At this stage, teachers help students connect what data they have gathered from exploring/engaging and come up with an explanation for their findings (Deductive Instruction). At this stage of the project the teacher can apply textbook and vocabulary instruction. New knowledge is gained and applied during this stage of 5E.

During direct instruction the teacher can toss out question cubes. This can keep the students paying attention and they connect these questions to evidence they got during the time they explored. It allows for more higher order thinking questions to be asked. It also allows for more students to engage during instruction because they had real world experiences to connect to.
(Valisha)

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What are the questions we want answered?
When the teacher is introducing a concept, idea or experiment she will start by asking them, "What do you know?" By allowing the studnets to look and observe at what is placed in front of them gets them thinking. It encourages observation and for them to share their experience with what they see and to ask questions from a curious state of mind.
The teacher should record these questions and observations from the initial evaluation so that as the work unfolds they can answer and connect with what they did know and what they learned. Kids love knowing that they knew something about whatever it was. Even if it's just naming the colors or shapes, there is little bit of validation that comes from knowing even the smallest parts or some from the original evaluation. This allows students to have real connections and relatable to the activity.
Evaluating is the the first step in science. It's where you get out all the...How, What, If's and Why's just by the initial introduction. It gives the students a safe place to feel heard and gain trust as they speak and share their wonder.
You can also ask students to write down these questions and have the teacher read them anonymously which is also a fun way to encourage bravery and sharing among a shy friend or two in the group.
When the teacher teaches the evaluating step of observation, wonder and ponder before you solve, it teaches patience, extends curiosity and furthers critical thinking with the right amount of time and influence.
Sueanne