Most of you should be familiar with Smarties. You know, the sweet and tart pastel-colored candies. Each roll contains several pastel colors including pink, green, purple, yellow, orange, and white.
Now the question: Is each color a different flavor?
My whole life, I’ve thought the pink tastes like cherry, the purple like grape, the orange like orange, etc. So today when the person in the office next to mine offered me some, I picked out the pink ones from her roll. She laughed saying that they all taste the same. I argued. Next thing you know, I’m taking a blind taste test. (As you can see, we’re currently very busy here at work)
I was shocked and ashamed to discover that I couldn’t figure out the flavor of the candy in my mouth unless I saw it first. This supported my colleague’s point: That they are all the same flavor. But I swear that I taste cherry when eat a pink one and orange when I eat an orange one.
Funny you should mention it. I bought a bag of mixed candy for Halloween this year that had Smarties in it. I started to eat a roll with exactly the same thought – that the different colors were different flavors. Then I realized that I couldn’t tell the difference. I haven’t eaten Smarties since I was a kid, so maybe they have changed. My guess though, is that I just thought they did. (Maybe I confused them with Sweet Tarts?)
I think you’re tasting flavors when you can see what color they are is strictly a psychological thing.
I think it’s some sort of conditioning thing. On a related note, whenever I do number 2, my other family members insist that I leave the door closed when finished. Just to fool them, one time I sat in the bathroom for ten minutes doing absolutely nothing, and when I came out they insisted that it smelled and that I close the door. I think that it only smells because they think it should, since I never really thought it was that bad, nor do I smell anything when they do the same.
Anyway, I guess the same thing could happen with smarties, where it only tastes different because you think it should.
My professional opinion is that each color is a different flavor. I think that it is most noticeable in the yellow and the purple Smarties.
In order to really taste the difference you should eat 20 or so Smarties of one color then cleanse your palette and try some Smarties of a different color.
“Smarties” are a little different in Canada. Here, they are a chocolate candy similar to M&M’s. Of course, the original question does hold true, are the different colours a different flavour [humming] o/~ When you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last o/~ [/humming]…
Hmmm… My father works for Nestle here in Canada - maybe I should ask him…
This leads to another question. If the flavor I taste is purely psychological, maybe the pizza I had last night wasn’t really as good as I thought it was. Maybe everyone should eat any new food with their eyes closed so that it doesn’t psychologically affect the way they “taste” the food.
I am an Englishmen currently living in Canada. Up until recently I was under the impression that this was a thouroughly pleasant and civilised country. However, recent events have changed my opinion. Gather round, and I’ll tell you a story of anticipation, dissapointment, and ultimately seething hatred and resentment…
My tale begins on a pleasant October afternoon. I had a hankering for some chocolate of the melt-in-your-mouth-not-in-your-hand variety. So I purchased some smarties. I proceeded to demolish the package (a box, for some reason, as opposed to the tube to which I am accustomed), dilligently saving the orange ones 'till last. Now, up until this point, I had detected no difference between these confounded Canadian confectionaries and their British counterpart, for 'tis true that all smarties, regardless of colour are created equal (all except for the orange ones, of course). So, there I am, with my small pile of orange smarties. I pause for a moment, to savour to anticipation. I place a single sweet in my mouth. I chew. I wait eagerly for the splendid orangy chocolate flavour to delight my tastebuds with it’s subtle citrus zing. This flavour never appears. Instead, I am left with your average, bog-standard, generic smarty chocolate flavour instead. I am bitterly dissapointed, not to mention aggrieved.
I pity the Canadian members of this board. Yours is a hollow, sheltered existance.
Thanks Shiva. I should never have doubted myself. Also, great name! People must expect a lot out of you when you’re named after the god of death and destruction.
I was laughed at when I said I could tell Sweettarts apart. A blind test with an entire roll proved that I could tell all colors, except when given Yellow I would guess wrong. I think that’s because yellow is a milder flavor and I would have to reach to come up with a flavor.
Thanks to all you people I just got a hankering for a roll of smarties. Luckily after raiding my kids halloween bags, I was able to satisfy my craving.
I know what they are talking about when they mention “green ones” but I’m not telling
I have to agree with you. I am from Scotland and have found the chocolate here in North America to be somewhat…different…there is nothing like Cadbury’s chocolate from backhome…
I can’t quite put my finger on what the ‘major’ difference is though…
But, it says what they say about the green ones is true. And it says what they say about the red ones isn’t true. What do they say about the red ones??
