Re: Can you rub garlic on a certain part of your body and be able to taste it?

As you may know, taste is a sensation that requires two things:  It 
requires taste receptors to be stimulated, and after they are stimulated, 
it requires that the information reaches the brain and is interpreted 
there.

Therefore, unless taste receptors are stimulated, you cannot taste 
something.

The only place there are taste receptors is in the mouth.

Therefore, you cannot taste something unless some part of it, even a very 
small part, gets into your mouth.

This may seem straightforward, but there's a little more to it.

Almost all of what we describe as taste is actually smell.  There is a 
classic experiment in which people are given a piece of raw apple and raw 
potato.  Of course they can tell the difference in taste.  But if they hold 
their nose, they can't tell the difference.  The taste receptors are being 
stimulated, but that's not enough.  They also have to smell the food.

This isn't to say that the mouth is unimportant in the sensation of taste.  
It serves lots of functions.  It warms the food, which releases more of its 
flavor characteristics.  Chewing does this, too.  Then air, with tiny bits 
(molecules) of food, travels up into your nose from your throat and helps 
you smell (and "taste") the food better.

And this is where the sticky part of this question is.  If you rub garlic 
on, say, your arm, you're definitely going to smell it.  Garlic stinks, 
after all.  That's because it has strongly scented oils which give it its 
distinctive odor.  And if you rub enough garlic on, you may even get the 
sensation of having the garlic in your mouth.  This is just because some of 
those oils have "volatilized" -- they've floated into the air -- and have 
gotten in your mouth and nose, giving a vague sensation of smelling and 
tasting garlic.

So there's no garlic circulating around in your bloodstream or anything, 
it's just that if you pick something that smells strongly, and is volatile, 
and put it anywhere near your mouth (not even on a part of your body), you 
very well might get the sensation that you're tasting it.  And this is 
because very small parts of that thing are floating in the air and end up 
in your mouth.

Please feel free to contact me with any other questions you might have.

Brenda