ABSTRACT
Many foods can be considered soft solids: bread, cheese, margarine, peanut butter, meat, several fruits, jam, puddings, mousse, aspic, boiled potatoes, etc. The term soft solid is ill-defined, as is the word semisolid, which is also used. The (implicit) meaning of the word solid does not comply with the definition given in Section 16.1 (a material with a viscosity over a given value, e.g., 1012 or 1014 Pa·s). A “solid” as meant in this chapter is a material that primarily exhibits elastic deformation upon applying a stress. The word soft then signifies that a relatively small stress is needed to obtain a substantial deformation; this may be due to the elastic modulus of the material being low (bread, soft fruits), or the yield stress being small (margarine, jam). The examples mentioned represent a wide variety of physical properties.
