This weird trick can make an onion taste like an apple
tk (PopSci/)We know you are bored at home right now—we are too. Here are some puzzles and brainteasers to challenge your family and friends with, either in person or over video chat.Our five senses—taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight—don’t function in vacuums. They work together in intricate ways. Consider this: With our eyes covered and our nose plugged, we probably can’t distinguish an apple from an onion.Without our eyes to see, an apple is an apple and an onion an onion because of its taste, odor, and texture. Together, these attributes create what we call flavor, differentiating one food from another.When we eat, receptors on our tongues decipher two things: texture and taste. To identify taste, these receptors pick up odorless substances known as nonvolatile chemical compounds. These molecular mixtures tell us the five characteristics commonly associated with flavor (bitter, salty, sweet, sour, and umami—or savory). The problem is that...