ELI5, why, when you store an open container of Oreos under a bunch of ripe bananas overnight, do the Oreos all taste like bananas the next day?

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ELI5, why, when you store an open container of Oreos under a bunch of ripe bananas overnight, do the Oreos all taste like bananas the next day?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Combine this:

Smells, in general, come from volatile molecules that break away from the source material and make their way into your nose.

With this:

The majority of what you think of as “taste” is actually your sense of *smell* detecting molecules going from your mouth to the back of your throat. The only things you can *literally* taste are sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory – everything else comes from smell.

And you get:

Volatiles from the bananas spread out into the air around them. Some make their way into the open pack of Oreos, where they stick to the cookies. They’re released when you eat the cookies, and get interpreted by your body as “banana flavor”.