Mouthfeel

A child bites into a peach experiencing a number of sensations including sweetness, juiciness, and a variety of textures, which together constitute what researchers call mouthfeel.

Mouthfeel refers to the physical sensations in the mouth caused by food or drink, as distinct from taste. It is a fundamental sensory attribute which, along with taste and smell, determines the overall flavor of a food item.[1][2] Mouthfeel is also sometimes referred to as texture.[2]

It is used in many areas related to the testing and evaluating of foodstuffs, such as wine-tasting and food rheology.[3] It is evaluated from initial perception on the palate, to first bite, through mastication to swallowing and aftertaste. In wine-tasting, for example, mouthfeel is usually used with a modifier (big, sweet, tannic, chewy, etc.) to the general sensation of the wine in the mouth.[4]

Mouthfeel is often related to a product's water activity—hard or crisp products having lower water activities and soft products having intermediate to high water activities.[5]

Qualities perceived

  • Cohesiveness: Degree to which the sample deforms before rupturing when biting with molars.
  • Density: Compactness of cross section of the sample after biting completely through with the molars.
  • Dryness: Degree to which the sample feels dry in the mouth.
  • Exquisiteness: Perceived quality of the item in question
  • Fracturability: Force with which the sample crumbles, cracks or shatters. Fracturability encompasses crumbliness, crispiness, crunchiness and brittleness.
  • Graininess: Degree to which a sample contains small grainy particles.
  • Gumminess: Energy required to disintegrate a semi-solid food to a state ready for swallowing.
  • Hardness: Force required to deform the product to a given distance, i.e., force to compress between molars, bite through with incisors, compress between tongue and palate.
  • Heaviness: Weight of product perceived when first placed on tongue.
  • Moisture absorption: Amount of saliva absorbed by product.
  • Moisture release: Amount of wetness/juiciness released from sample.
  • Mouthcoating: Type and degree of coating in the mouth after mastication (for example, fat/oil).
  • Roughness: Degree of abrasiveness of product's surface perceived by the tongue.
  • Slipperiness: Degree to which the product slides over the tongue.
  • Smoothness: Absence of any particles, lumps, bumps, etc., in the product.
  • Uniformity: Degree to which the sample is even throughout; homogeneity.
  • Uniformity of bite: Evenness of force through bite.
  • Uniformity of chew: Degree to which the chewing characteristics of the product are even throughout mastication.
  • Viscosity: Force required to draw a liquid from a spoon over the tongue.
  • Wetness: Amount of moisture perceived on product's surface.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mouritsen, Ole G.; Styrbæk, Klavs (2017). Mouthfeel: How Texture Makes Taste. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-54324-8.
  2. 1 2 Guinard, Jean-Xavier; Mazzucchelli, Rossella (July 1996). "The sensory perception of texture and mouthfeel". Trends in Food Science & Technology. 7 (7): 213–219. doi:10.1016/0924-2244(96)10025-X.
  3. ↑ Goodwin, Lindsey (26 December 2017). "Mouthfeel Defined". The Spruce. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Dollase, Jürgen (2005). Geschmacksschule (in German). Wiesbaden, Germany: Tre Torri Verlag. ISBN 3-937963-20-0.
  5. ↑ Katz, E. E.; Labuza, T. P. (March 1981). "Effect of Water Activity on the Sensory Crispness and Mechanical Deformation of Snack Food Products". Journal of Food Science. 46 (2): 403–409. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1981.tb04871.x.

Further reading

  • Dollase, Jürgen, Geschmacksschule [engl.: Tasting School], 2005 Tre Tori, Wiesbaden, Germany ( ISBN 3937963200). German-language textbook by a renowned food critic covering some, but not all of the above mentionend properties/mouthfeelings.
  • Stokes, Jason R.; Boehm, Michael W.; Baier, Stefan K. (August 2013). "Oral processing, texture and mouthfeel: From rheology to tribology and beyond". Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science. 18 (4): 349–359. doi:10.1016/j.cocis.2013.04.010.
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