Browsing by Subject "descriptive analysis"

The impact of color on perception of food has been studied a lot with solid and liquid foods, but research with semi-solid foods, such as yogurt, has not been published as much. Semi-solid oat-based foods have great commercial potential, yet there are still challenges related to sensory properties. In order to meet consumer acceptance, more research on plant-based foods is needed. The aim of this thesis work was to study the impact of food color in two different oat-based yogurt-like products on consumers’ perception of flavor and texture, as well as acceptance and preference. For this purpose, descriptive analysis and consumer test were applied on six samples, Yosa and Oddlygood as such and with two levels of added yellow food colorant. Generic Descriptive Analysis (GDA) was done for 8 attributes (yellowness intensity, consistency, overall aroma intensity, overall flavor intensity, sourness intensity, oat flavor intensity, thickness and powderiness) with 30 trained panelists. Consumer test (106 panelists) included 9-point scales for pleasantness, flavor intensity, thickness, and how natural the color looks, a Just-About-Right (JAR) scale for thickness and a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) question. Increased color intensity was found to increase flavor intensity, as well as sourness and aroma of Yosa product, but not of Oddlygood product. Color intensity did not affect consumers’ preference, but the closer the color was to that of commercial products, the more natural consumers considered its color to be. According to JAR result, it was advisable to improve thickness of all the samples. From CATA result, 5 words used the most to describe all the samples were creamy, viscous, runny, smooth, and watery. In conclusion, the effect of color on perception of flavor was found in Yosa product, but not Oddlygood product, and color had no significant effect on pleasantness of the products.

Abstract Licorice is traditionally made from sugar, molasses, water, wheat flour, and licorice extract. In the literature review, the focus was on the properties of quinoa, licorice extrusion, sensory and physical properties of licorice and the basis behind sensory evaluation and instrumental testing in product development. In the experimental part, gluten-free quinoa and rice licorice were made and their properties were studied with multiple sensory and instrumental measurements, and the self-made samples were also compared to commercial samples to see the possible differences between them. The hypothesis was that the changes in the recipes and process parameters would result in significant differences between the products. The sensory evaluations included a generic descriptive analysis with the first batch and two separate consumer tests with the two batches. The instrumental testing conducted of compression and extension tests with Instron and the determination of water activity. The data were analyzed with one- and three-way analyses of variance, as well as principal component analysis for the descriptive analysis. The manufacturing of the quinoa and rice licorice with the twin-screw extrusion was achieved. The generic descriptive analysis revealed that all the self-made samples were described similarly to each other, while the commercial gluten-free samples differed significantly from these. The quinoa licorice was seen sticky and not homogenous in appearance or texture, while the commercial samples were described as more homogenous and more intense in their taste. The consumer tests showed that both panels preferred the commercial samples over the self-made ones and that the quinoa licorice was preferred over the rice licorice. Commercial samples were seen as soft and chewy, while all the self-made samples from both tests were described as hard and grainy. The hypothesis was overruled since the quinoa licorice samples did not have significantly different properties despite the variation in the process parameters and ingredients. The study revealed that at least with these parameters there are no noticeable, significant differences in the sensory or physical properties of quinoa licorice. The commercial samples, however, remain significantly different from the self-made samples.