TWO‐DIMENSIONAL MAPPING OF SENSORY TEXTURE DESCRIPTORS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although language is of great importance in sensory science, there is no reliable descriptor compilation for German language. To evaluate whether there is redundancy in existing descriptor collections, a two‐dimensional mapping technique was applied to texture descriptors within the firmness–brittleness space; this technique does not investigate texture attributes as such but focuses on the consumers' mental reconstruction of texture properties in terms of language. A total of 68 subjects, skilled and unskilled in sensory science, contributed to the tests. The statistics show that there are no significant differences between skilled and unskilled individuals with respect to the location of the descriptors in the firmness–brittleness map. Some descriptors formed pronounced clusters with a high degree of similarity, which, however, does not justify descriptor elimination. Consumers' mental representations of the texture descriptors can be mapped in the frame of mechanical texture attributes, but not in an exhaustive manner; they appear to be multimodal and multidimensional. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThe two‐dimensional descriptor mapping technique can be helpful in identifying potentially matching sensory descriptors and in making a set of sensory terms, which is used in descriptive analysis or in communication with consumers, more reliable and free of redundancy; however, aspects of multimodality and multidimensionality of texture descriptors have to be considered.