An Examination of Instrumental Textural Evaluation of "Nori" Products by Texturometer

Abstract

A method to measure the toughness of "nori" (a kind of seaweed products) by means of texturometer was examined and a method having a good correlation with the results of sensory test has been developed. It was necessary to moisten a test strip of "nori" (1.2×2.0cm large) with an artificial salivary solution (0.06ml per strip), in order to have values well correlated with sensory scores. When four moistened strips were put together and bitten by a V-plunger at clearance of 0mm, 6 bites per minute and electric power of 2.5V, values of the "fifth" peak showed good correlation with scores obtained by sensory test. The correlation coefficient was 0.938 for hoshi-nori, a sort of dried "nori", and that for yaki-nori, roasted one derived from hoshi-nori, was 0.967. This approach was proved to be useful for evaluating toughness of "nori" and applicable to both hoshi-nori and yaki-nori.