ABSTRACT
Texture of foods is a highly subjective human experience with foods during their consumption. It is, in essence, the “eating quality” of foods encompassing many properties of foods that excite our senses of sight, touch, and sound. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO, 1992) defines texture of a food product as, “all the rheological and structural (geometric and surface) attributes of the product perceptible by means of mechanical, tactile, and, where appropriate, visual and auditory receptors.” The textural attributes of foods play a major role in consumer appeal, buying decisions, and eventual consumption. For some foods, texture is more important to consumers than flavor and color (Szczesniak and Kleyn, 1963). In fact, Rohm (1990) indicated, based on several studies, that food texture is the single most dominant attribute for consumer preference of foods. Needless to say, developing “proper” texture is an ongoing industry effort in marketing a variety of foods. This, however, is easier said than done. Developing foods with “proper” texture implies that we know (a) what is the expected texture; (b) how to formulate the product to achieve that texture; and (c) how to measure and characterize texture. Each of these is, and has been, an area of active research.
