Mouthfeel

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Mouthfeel is a product’s physical and chemical interaction in the mouth. It is a concept used in many areas related to the testing and evaluating of foodstuffs, such as wine-tasting and rheology. It is evaluated from initial perception on the palate, to first bite, through mastication to swallowing. In wine-tasting, for example, mouthfeel is usually used with a modifier (big, sweet, tannic, chewy, etc.) to describe the general sensation of the wine in the mouth.

Modifiers of foodstuffs

Common modifiers in relation to the texture of foodstuffs include:

• Adhesiveness, Force required to remove the material that adheres to a specific surface (e.g., lips, palate, teeth).
• Bounce/Springiness: The resilience rate at which the sample returns to the original shape after partial compression.
• Chewiness: Number of chews (at 1 chew/sec) needed to masticate the sample to a consistency suitable for swallowing.
• Coarseness: Degree to which the mass feels coarse during product mastication.
• Cohesiveness: Degree to which the sample deforms before rupturing when biting with molars.
• Denseness: Compactness of cross section of the sample after biting completely through with the molars.
• Dryness: Degree to which the sample feels dry in the mouth.
• Fracturability: Force with which the sample crumbles, cracks or shatters. Fracturability encompasses crumbliness, crispiness, crunchiness and brittleness.
• Graininess: Degree to which a sample contains small grainy particles.
• Gumminess: Energy required to disintegrate a semi-solid food to a state ready for swallowing.
• Hardness: Force required to deform the product to given distance, i.e., force to compress between molars, bite through with incisors, compress between tongue and palate.
• Heaviness: Weight of product perceived when first placed on tongue.
• Moisture absorption: Amount of saliva absorbed by product.
• Moisture release: Amount of wetness/juiciness released from sample.
• Mouthcoating: Type and degree of coating in the mouth after mastication (for example, fat/oil).
• Roughness: Degree of abrasiveness of product's surface perceived by the tongue.
• Slipperiness: Degree to which the product slides over the tongue.
• Smoothness: Absence of any particles, lumps, bumps, etc., in the product.
• Uniformity: Degree to which the sample is even throughout.
• Uniformity of Chew: Degree to which the chewing characteristics of the product are even throughout mastication.
• Uniformity of bite: Evenness of force through bite.
• Viscosity: Force required to draw a liquid from a spoon over the tongue.
• Wetness: Amount of moisture perceived on product's surface.

References

• Dollase, Jürgen, Geschmacksschule [engl.: Tasting School], 2005 Tre Tori, Wiesbaden, Germany (ISBN 3937963200). German language textbook by a renowned food critic covering some, but not all of the above mentionend properties/mouthfeelings.

See also

• Wine tasting
• Food

Wikipedia information about Mouthfeel This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mouthfeel". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.