Predicting sensory cohesiveness, hardness and springiness of solid foods from instrumental measurements

The sensory evaluation of cohesiveness, hardness and springiness of 15 solid food samples was performed by eight trained assessors. The rheologic response of the 15 samples was estimated by performing cyclic compression tests and stress-relaxation tests. From the force-deformation curves of the first two cycles of the compression test, texture profile analysis parameters related to cohesiveness, hardness and springiness were calculated. Young's modulus (E), strain (d(i)) and stress (s(i)) at peak as well as irrecoverable strain (r(i)) and irrecoverable work (L-i) were monitored during the first five cycles. From the stress-relaxation response, Peleg's linearization model parameters, K-1 and K-2, were estimated by best-fit regression. These parameters were used for predicting sensory attributes. Hardness and springiness were both accurately predicted by rheologic properties, while cohesiveness prediction was less representative.