[Christopher Kwong]

Christopher Kwong asked the Naked Scientists:

Hey just wondering. Do esters taste like they smell? And also when i make a ester in the lab is it safe to taste?

What do you think?

[Soul Surfer]

Smelling and tasting are intimately linked in fact most things that people call tastes are really smells.  This becomes very obvious when you have a bad cold and your nose is totally blocked and it is not possible to smell anything.  Food becomes very bland and tasteless only very strong characteristics like sweetness sharpness and bitterness can really be tasted.  On those grounds tasting would be pointless and could also be dangerous because most stuff made in simple experiments is rather impure and probably contaminated by the reagents that you used to make it (some of which you would definitely not want to taste)