ABSTRACT
The word “food” in itself is a complex system comprising of a wide range of biological components with various rheological characteristics. The diversity in these biological components in different food systems impart various compositional and structural variability to the food, thus, exhibiting different types of rheological behaviors viz. low viscosity fluids (e.g., milk), high viscosity fluids (e.g., ketchup) and hard solids (e.g., candies, and gel). The rheological behavior of food decides the stability and appearance of foods such as in the form of emulsions, pastes, and spreads, etc. Moreover, food quality, apart from its nutritional value, is a function of its rheological properties viz. structure and texture. The rheological characterization of food and food forming components is vital for predicting the food quality. Depending upon the form of a specific product (e.g., suspension, emulsion, gel, paste, liquid, solid, etc.) to be analyzed, a range of rheological techniques, tests, and equipments are available. Processing the rheological data in the form of models is vital to infer its physical significance in relation to the flow behavior. Therefore, the present chapter gives an insight into the application of rheological techniques, tests, and theoretical models to predict the quality of foods.
