Abstract
The effect of homogenization pressure (HP), which can cause fat globule size differences, on sensory characteristics and retronasal-aroma release of and preference for coffee- and strawberry-flavored dairy beverages was investigated by sensory evaluation and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis using a retronasal aroma simulator (RAS). Each flavored sample was homogenized at 2, 7, and 25 MPa. Sensory characteristics (“sweetness” in coffee; “sweetness”, “milk flavor”, “thickness”, “fattiness”, “body” in strawberry) of the flavored samples were significantly (p<0.05) influenced by HP. “Thickness”, “fattiness”, and “body” attributes of the strawberry samples were enhanced with increasing HP (2<25 MPa). In addition, sensory preferences for coffee-flavored dairy beverage were significantly (p<0.05) influenced by HP. The coffee sample homogenized under higher HP was preferred (2<25 MPa, 7<25 MPa). Furthermore, GC-MS analysis of the RAS compounds released from milk fat emulsions (MFE), which contained 11 strawberry-flavor compounds and were homogenized at 7, 14, and 35 MPa, revealed that six highly-volatile compounds, which have smaller logP values, significantly (p<0.05) increased with increasing HP (7<14 MPa). However, there were no significant differences in the sensory characteristics of strawberry-flavored beverages with simulated differences in the six RAS-compound releases between 7 and 14 MPa-homogenized MFEs by adding the six compounds, and homogenized under the same HP (7 MPa). From the above results, it was suggested that the significant effect of HP on the sensory characteristics of flavored beverages was due to not only RAS-compound release but also other factors such as fat globule size.
