Abstract
Crispness is among the most important food textures that contribute significantly to palatability. This study investigated the association between the perceived crispness and palatability of five types of Japanese rice crackers known as “kakinotane.” Two experiments were conducted using the temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) and temporal drivers of liking (TDL) methods. As descriptors for the TDS evaluation, we used 10 Japanese onomatopoeias to indicate various attributes of crispness. We also measured the mastication sounds and electromyography (EMG) activity during mastication. Principal component analysis data revealed that principal component 1, representing moisture characteristics, contributed more than 60% in both experiments. The palatability of the stimulus, which was described as having a very soft, moist, and sticky texture, BETA-BETA, was significantly lower than the others. However, there was no significant relationship between the amplitude of mastication sound or EMG activity and palatability. We demonstrated that naïve university students can discriminate the fine nuances of the crispness of “kakinotane” using the TDS and TDL methods. Our findings also suggested that the onomatopoeias used as descriptors in the TDS method had a greater influence on describing the nuances of food texture than the physiological data.
Highlights
Crispness is an important factor in food perception and evaluation and plays a key role in food palatability [1]
principal component analysis (PCA) on attribute durations revealed that the two principal components (PCs) with variance resulted in a contribution rate of 84% (Figure 3)
A relatively high contribution rate of PC1 theoretically indicated that the crispness of “kakinotane” was mainly evaluated according to the moisture characteristics
Summary
Crispness is an important factor in food perception and evaluation and plays a key role in food palatability [1]. Many previous studies have investigated the characteristics of food crispness using physical/material or sensory science approaches. It has been suggested that perceived crispness is affected by the hardness of food and the magnitude of force required to crush it [2]. Katz and Labuza revealed that increased water activity of snacks led to a decrease in the crispness evaluation [3]. This effect was confirmed by Seymour and Hamann who reported that an increased moisture level decreased the sensory hardness of snacks [4]. Recent studies have suggested that acoustic parameters related to food sensory properties, such as crispiness and crunchiness, are positively correlated with satisfaction and pleasantness [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
