“With a bitter back and sweet centre, sour taste on the sides linger.
The tip takes the latest trend, in licking a salty sweet blend.
Know how the buddies in the tongue,taste the food of old and the young.”                 

These are tastes that used to be.  

Fig.1  Tongue  is a muscular organ that helps us to taste, eat and speak.

Now the scientists say there are more tastes and the map given cannot be applied to everybody. So it is up to you to find out the places in your tongue that detect different tastes.

Fig.2 Record the sweet tasting areas of the tongue here.

Take a small cup, add some drinking water and dissolve some sugar in it. Dip a tooth pick in the solution and place that end on a specific place on the tongue.  Record your results ; the degree of sweetness you fell at the four places shown in the diagram.
 If you feel the taste very well say ‘Very sensitive’.  If you get the taste slightly say ‘Slightly’ ; if you don’t get the taste at all say,  ‘No taste’.
 

Taste buds or Papilae

The tongue does not have a smooth surface, This is due to the presence of thousands of taste buds which are called papilae. The diagram of one taste bud is shown here. In each papilae there are hundreds cells which can detect various tastes. Now it is the opinion of the scientists that there are 5 primary tastes.  

5 Primary Tastes

Sweet     Sugar, glucose sacarine

Sour    Acidic fruits, venegar

Bitter   Quinine.  bitter gourd.

,Umami    Some preserved food, meat. some sea weeds and sodium glutamate.

[The last one was discovered by the Kikenue Ikeda PhD of Tokyo Imperial University.]