Flavour Workshop

Selecting the right flavour

Taste - the Basics

Using taste it is important to be able to detect the basic sensory elements:
There are four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salt, bitter.

There is a close interaction between smell and taste; approximately 60% of taste is directly attributed to odour. When swallowing, air from the mouth is forced up through the nasal cavity and so into contact with the olfactory nerve.

Why Carry Out Sensory Evaluation?

Only the human brain can integrate all the sensations of appearance, aroma, taste, sound and feel which contribute to the flavour of a food

Advantages of Assessment by Humans
Humans are more sensitive to differences in colour, aroma, flavour and texture than machines. After all the final product must be acceptable to humans. When assessing a flavour you are not just evaluating an attribute but need to think about how the attribute affects the whole product.

Disadvantages of Measurement by Humans
Assessors may differ in the following:
- Sensitivity
- Discrimination
- Descriptive Abilities
- Memory

Individual assessors will differ from day to day and will be affected by mood, weather, food, drink, health etc. Changes in the testing environment will affect assessors perceptions e.g. temperature, light, odours. There is not a direct relationship between stimulus and response.

 

Select.. Almond Amaretto Animal Food Application Apple Apricot Bakewell Banana Barbeque Beef Blackcurrant Blueberry Bread Butter Butterscotch Caramel Cheese Cherry Chicken Chilli Chocolate Coconut Cola Cranberry Cream Fat Gammon Garlic Gin Ginger Grapefruit Grill, Char-grill Guava Hazelnut Hickory Grill Honey Lamb Leek Lemon Lime Malt Mango Maple Meat Enhancer Mesquite Grill Milk Mushroom Onion Orange Orange & Pineapple Oxtail Passion Fruit Peach Pepper, Red Pineapple Pomegranate Pork Potato Raspberry Rhubarb Roast Rosemary & Thyme Smoke Strawberry Sweetcorn Toffee Tomato Vanilla Watermelon Wine Worcestershire Sauce

1. Introduction to flavours
2. Selecting the right flavour