Visual Translation of Taste Sensations can Help Improve Ice Cream Quality

Researchers at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology in Valencia, Spain, suggest that graphs can be successfully used by manufacturers to improve their product quality after they demonstrated visually on a screen the changes in coldness, creaminess or texture which people experience in their mouths when eating an ice cream. In the last five years a technique known as 'Temporal Dominance of Sensations' (TDS) has become popular, used to analyse how consumer impressions evolve from the moment they taste a product.

Researchers at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (CSIC) have now used the technique to visualise the 'perceptions' experienced when eating an ice cream, which come together as a smooth and creamy liquid is formed when it melts in the mouth.

"As well as how it looks before being served, the texture on our tongue and palate is key to it being accepted and considered as a quality product," said Susana Fiszman, one of the authors, to SINC. To assess this aspect, scientists have organised a tasting session with 85 persons, who described the sensations they felt while eating a vanilla ice cream.



Source-Eurekalert