Using regular (water-soluble) food-grade blue food coloring, a cotton swab, and a magnifying mirror, apply food coloring to the front half-inch of your tongue. Rinse your mouth with water to remove...

Using regular (water-soluble) food-grade blue food coloring, a cotton swab, and a magnifying mirror, apply food coloring to the front half-inch of your tongue. Rinse your mouth with water to remove excess food coloring (spit out or swallow the rinse water). Look in the mirror at the appearance of the tip of your tongue. If necessary, use a fl ashlight to better see details. Is your tongue mostly blue with a few pink spots, or is it mostly pink with very little blue? The pink spots are the fungiform papillae on your tongue. Fungiform papillae are the only papillae on the front of the tongue where taste buds reside. The smaller bumps on your tongue that dye blue are also papillae, but they are not associated with taste buds. The more pink papillae on your tongue, the more taste buds there are.

To estimate the number of taste buds in a given area on your tongue, place a paper reinforcement sticker on the tip of your tongue or use a hole puncher to punch a hole in a small piece of paper and place the paper on the tip of your tongue. Count the number of pink papillae within the hole. On average, nontasters have fewer than fi fteen fungiform papillae in this area; normal tasters have from fi fteen to thirty; supertasters have over thirty pink papillae crowded into this small space. Compare the appearance of your tongue with those of your classmates. Can you predict who might be a supertaster and who might be a nontaster?