The linespread test, a simple method for measuring the physical properties of homogeneous paste foods, was used to measure the spreading distance, and the resulting data was compared with the hardness based on textural measurement and mouth feeling. A hard paste food was found to spread a relatively short distance. In addition, samples adjusted to the hardness of yoghurt [(4.15±0.11)×102N/m2] tended to spread different distances depending on the thickener used. A sensory evaluation of similar samples showed that greater spreading tended to be stickier in the mouth. These results show that the linespread test to measure spreading distance can be utilized by healthcare facilities and hospitals as a simple technique to estimate such textural properties as the hardness and stickiness of sol-state foods.
