Fundamental Textural Characteristics of Gel Foods

Abstract

Studies on textural qualities of gel foods were carried out, in order to find out fundamental textural characteristics. Textural qualities of 11 gel foods were evaluated by using 15 descriptive 7-point rating scales and 17 onomatopoeic words.
Application of principal component analysis revealed 5 fundamental characteristics and the sensory parameters corresponding to each characteristic as follows; characteristic I hardness and/or chewiness (primary parameter “hard-soft”; secondary parameters “brittle/fragile-not brittle/not fragile” and “elastic-not elastic”), II adhesiveness and/or viscosity (primary “sticky-not sticky”; secondary “viscous-not viscous”), III wetness (primary “dry-wet”), IV oiliness (primary “oily/greasy-not oily/not greasy”) and V smoothness (primary “smooth-rough”). In addition to these descriptive scales, the onomatopoeic word “gunya-gunya” (limp) was an effective parameter to discriminate gel foods from each other.