Abstract
The smallest recognizable particle size of foods in the mouth and the size range of distinguishable particles were examined sensorily for different food samples. These two factors were evaluated in relation to the physical properties of the food samples.
Samples in the form of aqueous suspensions were prepared from nine pulverized food materials by passing them in water through standard sieves which resulted in a geometrical size ratio of approx. 1. 19.
The smallest recognizable particle size, which depended largely on the material, was least in cellulose (34 μm) and most in 1% agar gel (380 μm). Excepting hanpen and bread, food particles differing in size by 1.2 times on average were distinguishable when the particle size was above a certain level (the smallest distinguishable particle size). The smallest distinguishable particle size depended on the food material.
The smallest recognizable particle size and the smallest distinguishable particle size were associated with such physical properties of the materials as the water content, the deformation coefficient, and the density.
The smallest recognizable particle size and the smallest distinguishable particle size were subjected to a multiple-regression analysis to express them numerically by using the physical properties of each material. The smallest recognizable particle size and the smallest distinguishable particle size could be expressed by multiple-regression equations with the deformation coefficient etc.
