ABSTRACT
Most foods are not perfect liquid nor solid, but rather have a combined behavior—that is, they are viscoelastic. The viscoelastic properties of food allow to understand the changes in the microstructure and its behavior during processing, storage and consumption. This chapter presents the viscoelastic properties of fluid, semi-solid and solid food evaluated through three main procedures: the dynamic oscillatory shear, creep–recovery procedure and stress–relaxation procedure. The fundamentals of these procedures are explained, along with the main mathematical models that describe the viscoelastic behavior. Finally, the most typical tests carried out to analyze the texture of food are described. For all cases, real examples of the rheological behavior of foods subjected to different procedures and tests are provided.
