Sensory texture related to large-strain rheological properties of agar/glycerol gels as a model food

Descriptive sensory analysis and large-strain rheological methods were used to evaluate textural characteristics of agar gels as a model food. The gels were differentiated in the same manner by sensory analysis and rheological properties (P <= 0.05), and significant correlations between sensory and rheological properties were reported. First bite and chew-down sensory terms correlated with each other and with fracture properties. Specifically, the first bite sensory term "fracture force" correlated with the chew-down sensory term "chewiness" (r=0.99, P <= 0.001), and both of these sensory terms were correlated with fracture stress (sigma(f)) and modulus (r=0.94-0.97, P <= 0.05). The first bite sensory term "deformability" was positively correlated with fracture strain (r=0.88, P <= 0.05) and negatively correlated with the strain-hardening constant (r=-0.93, P <= 0.05). The chew-down property "particle breakdown" was negatively correlated with sigma(f) values (r=-0.97, P <= 0.05). For agar gels, each sensory texture term can be linked with a large-strain mechanical property.