Yes you really can taste garlic through your feet

Amazing Bodies: Tasting The Garlic We Rub On Our Feet

How do you taste food? Ask any person this question and they will look at you sideways.

Our mouths are specially designed to taste and process the food we eat.

So what if we were to say that there is a way you can taste certain foods without ever putting it in your mouth?

Surprisingly enough, this is where our feet come in.

How does tasting garlic with the feet work?

The American Chemical Society recently showed how the process works. Originally an old wives tale, it was thought that you could taste garlic in your mouth if you rub raw garlic on your feet.

Consider taking the experiment for yourself. Take off your socks and sit down. Grab some raw garlic and rub it against the bottom of your foot for about a minute.

Put the garlic away, wash your hands, and wait. In about 15 minutes, you will begin to taste garlic in your mouth. You can also cut a piece of raw garlic in half and put it in an empty bag along with your foot.

In an about an hour you will taste garlic this way as well. Surprisingly enough, you may also begin smelling it as well.

Whats the science behind it?

So what is exactly going on here? Why can contact with a food cause you to taste it even if it never approaches or enters your mouth?

It all comes down to how your skin works.

You see, your skin has various watery and oily layers in it. These layers do not mix as they circulate throughout the largest organ in your body, your skin.

They circulate to help protect your internal organs from exposure to chemicals and molecules in the air. While they are a protection against all things air borne, it can result in some funny situations when you are dealing with the right chemicals.

Take garlic as an example.

Garlic is unique in that it contains a special molecule called Allicin. It is this molecule that helps make everything possible.

Having both the properties of oil and water, it manages to be able to permeate through the layers of skin at your feet.

Once it permeates the skin, it can travel throughout your entire body. Working itself through your blood, it can go up to mouth and nose.

One it gets to your nose and mouth, it will be so strong that you can taste and even smell it.

Amazing, isn’t it?