Most foods are complex disperse systems, there are great difficulties in establishing objective criteria for criteria measurement.
It is also difficult in many cases to relate results obtained by instrumental techniques of measurement to the type of response obtained by sensory panel tests.
The characteristics of foods a affect consumers preferences. Certain foods are preferred because of their hard texture and some because of their soft texture.
The terms for the textural properties of foods have a long history. Many of the terms are accepted but are often poorly define descriptive terms.
Some of the examples of such terms:
Consistency denoted those aspects of texture that relate to flow and deformation. It can be said to encompass all of the rheological properties of a product. It can refers to the degree of viscosity or density of product.
Hardness has been defined as resistance to deformation. Hardness a is the most frequently tested parameters.
Firmness is essentially identical to hardness but is occasionally used to describe the property of a substance able to resist deformation under its own weight. It can be defined the force required to bite through the food.
Brittleness is the properties of fracturing before significant flow has occurred.
Textural Properties of Food
