The taste qualities of acidulants have not been studied in detail despite
the fact that they are widely used by the food industry. Studies on
characterizing the sensory properties of organic and inorganic acids are very
limited. Reported studies are commonly on threshold, equi-sour and the time
intensity values of sourness. A series of experiments were conducted to
determine the sensory properties of selected acidulants by different sensory
and multivariate methods.
First, the technique of Free-Choice Profiling was applied in order to
characterize the sensory profile of some selected acids (adipic, citric, fumaric,
glucono-delta-lactone, hydrochloric, lactic, malic, phosphoric, quinic, succinic,
tartaric, citric:fumaric, citric:malic and fumaric:malic) on a weight (0.08% w/v
or v/v) basis. Results analyzed through Generalized Procrustes Analysis
indicate that on a weight basis (w/v or v/v), acids differed in their flavor and
taste dynamics. Likewise, acids were described differently by individual
panelists.
Second, the sourness power functions of the selected acidulants were
generated from five molar concentrations by magnitude estimation involving 16 trained panelists. Equi-sour concentrations were determined by
regressing the log of the rescaled response (sensory) on the log of the stimuli
(physical). The calculated equi-sour levels ranged from 0.48 ml/L for HCl to
2.34 g/L for glucono-delta-lactone when citric add was set at 1.0 g/L. These
theoretical equi-sourness were then tested by using an alternative sensory
method, the directional difference from control test.
Third, the sensory profile of the acidulants at their equi-sour levels was
characterized using two sensory methods, free-choice profiling and the
conventional descriptive analysis. The former was analyzed by Generalized
Procrustes Analysis while the latter was analyzed by Principal Component
Analysis. The two sensory methods gave similar patterns of information
regarding the add samples. The similarities of several organic acids and their
mixtures were very evident. Hydrochloric and phosphoric acids were
astringent while succinic add was bitter and had a monosodium glutamate
taste. It was concluded that adds had other sensory properties aside from
sourness that must be considered in a given food application. / Graduation date: 1993
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/27072 |
| Date | 17 March 1993 |
| Creators | Rubico, Sonia Mendoza |
| Contributors | McDaniel, Mina R. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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