Taste Lesson Plan:

Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, and Umami

(for students age 3-10)
im
The aim of this lesson is to teach the five different basic flavors of food.
Ba!"ground
This lesson is used to illustrate how various foods are categorized into sweet, sour, salty, bitter,
and umami. Students will learn and discuss how the foods that they eat fall into these categories.
#$%e!ti&es
Following the presentation, students will know how to:
Discuss the flavors they taste using descriptive words
dentify what they taste
!ategorize foods they are familiar with into tastes"sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami
'aterials
The following materials are needed for this lesson:
Five freezer pop sticks#participant
Simple syrup $% cup &!' of sugar boiled with % ! water, then cooled(
)emon *uice
Salt water
!ocoa powder water $mi+ % spoonful of cocoa powder with water to make a li,uid(
Soy sauce
!up or tray for used freezer pop sticks
Pre(aration
-ave students sit in a circle
.lace five freezer pop sticks in front of them on a napkin
.ut five cups with assorted li,uids on a table
Presentation
Tell students that today they are going to learn about flavors
/sk a few students:
o0hat is your favorite food1
o-ow does it taste1
2emind them that words like 3good4 and 3yummy4 do not describe5 ask them to e+plain the
way the food tastes as if telling someone who has never tasted it before
.ass around the simple syrup cup, and ask students to dip their first freezer pop stick into the
cup and taste it5 ask them to describe the flavor
-ave the students place used freezer pop sticks in the garbage or assigned spot
Tell the students they have *ust tasted 3sweet,4 and have them list other foods that are sweet
2epeat this process with the lemon *uice
Tell them they have *ust tasted 3sour,4 and have them list other foods that are sour
2epeat with the salt water
Tell them they have *ust tasted 3salty,4 and have them list other foods that are salty
2epeat with the cocoa powder mi+ed with water
Tell them they have *ust tasted 3bitter,4 and have them list other foods that are bitter
2epeat with the soy sauce
Tell them they have *ust tasted 3umami,4 e+plaining that umami means a meaty flavor found in
things like 6S7 and sea vegetables $it is from glutamate(, and have them list other foods that
are umami $mushrooms, meat, pork, /sian flavorings(
f time or interest allows, students may combine flavors $eg, simple syrup and lemon *uice"
sweet8sour9tart( for additional e+ploration and discussion
:ote: f students are ; years old or younger, it sometimes is best to place freezer pop sticks
inside the cups and have each participant take one, rather than putting the freezer pop sticks in
front of them. This keeps the sticks from becoming mi+ed up, contaminated, or dangerous.
<ou also can break this down into 3stations,4 with a teacher or aide at each of the flavor stations.
Small group discussions may foster more dialogue among older students.
2eview Date %=#>?
@A>B>C