Skittles Are All The Same Flavor?

     All Skittles taste exactly the same. Despite their different colors, all skittles are the same flavor. According to a Brandeis University neuropsychologist, Donn Katz, told NPR, "The Skittles people, being much smarter than most of us, recognized that it is cheaper to make things smell and look different than it is to make them actually taste different. So, Skittles have different fragrances and different colors-but they all taste exactly the same."

     Our brains are used to processing certain sensory cues together. For example, you pick up a purple skittle. Many people associate candy that's purple is grape flavor, and it also usually has a grape-like scent. Katz says when you're offered two of the three sensory cues (sight and smell), your brain will fill in the blanks. So, basically, we assume before even eating the purple skittle that it will be grape flavor, and when we consume it our brain tricks us into believing it is grape flavor when it's not. 

     If you take a bite of a red skittle, the inside will look just like the inside of all the rest of them. The only change is the outside shell. The shell is what messes with us because it has the color of a flavor and the smell is only on the shell. If you still don't believe this, think of what the skittle would look like without the shell. They would all be the same thing, just one is dipped in red dye and has strawberry smell when another one was in purple dye and has grape smell. A new flavor of a skittle isn't the skittle at all, only a different smell and food coloring.