Taste through fingers

Aha! I knew I was not alone! I’ve been reading about tastes and flavor types recently and then remembered how I can often taste things through my fingers. Yes. I have been able to for most of my life I think.

I can taste certain metals when I touch them, and I can also pick up certain types of bitterness from plant leaves.

I decided to do a search and yes there actually are others out there who can also.

It is definitely taste, not synasthesia as someone in a forum replied. It is also not “vibrational energy” or some weird thing. It is just taste. Maybe most people have this and don’t even know it?

Have you ever been on a swingset with those iron chains and, when holding the chains while on a swing, you got that kind of weird taste-sensation? That is the taste I’m referring to. I’ve often associated it with playgrounds. For some reason the metal used to make most playground equipment like swings leaves this kind bittery taste which I sense through my hands and can sort of taste. This bitterness was so strong that there have been times when I avoided using a swing or climbing on playground bars.

I started testing with plants and yes, certain really bitter plants can activate it also. No doubt this is some kind of evolutionary protection thing related to bitterness. Its much better to be able to detect that a plant is toxic by touching it than having to put it in one’s mouth.

Being able to sense the bitterness, hence potential poison, via touch provides one more line of defense which was probably important for tens of thousands of years.

I actually like to test things but have learned to be careful. Once in high school during lunch break I enthusiastically feasted on what looked like spring onions growing outside the building which turned out to be poisonous shoots from some type of flower.

In my next class after the break I was sitting there and suddenly started seeing spots in front of my eyes, almost like in the old cartoons. I remember telling the teacher something like “Excuse me, I don’t feel good. I’m seeing spots.”

I remember going to the nurses office after that. My Mom came and she said that she took me to the hospital which, strangely, I don’t remember.

Once years ago I was in a park and enthusiastically foraged what looked like some form of wild parsley or cilantro. Mistake! NEVER eat any wild food that looks like parsley or cilantro! It could be hemlock, which happens to grow abundantly around where I live! I only at a small amount which was enough to cause me to – see spots! (and feel weird) – but fortunately nothing else.

I will tell one other story before I finish. One time I had smoked way too much cannabis and was feeling very fried and I was walking along this trail in a beautiful area. There were these wild bushes which had seed pods sort of like peas. I tried eating a little and it was somewhat bitter but – wow! – it totally removed the buzz from the cannabis. My head instantly cleared up. I think I discovered an antidote to pot.

I’m reading more about tastes through skin and some are saying that some compounds definiely do penetrate the skin and can be picked up as taste sensation in the mouth within seconds. Ok, this probably explains what is happening, although it makes me wonder if the fingers have evolved a heightened ability to do this?