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With an increasing consumption of lipids nowadays, decreasing the fat content in food products has become a trend. Chocolate is a fat-based suspension that contains about 30%wt fat. Reducing fat content causes an increase in the molten chocolate viscosity. This leads to 2 major issues: difficulties in the process and a loss of eating quality in the final product, reported to have poor in-mouth melting properties, remain hard, and difficult to swallow. Literature shows that optimizing the particle size distribution (PSD), that is, having one with an increased packing fraction, can decrease the viscosity of highly concentrated suspensions. This study focuses on the impact of the PSD and fat content on the rheological properties, melting behavior, and hardness of chocolate models (dispersions of sugar in fat). We show that optimizing the PSD while reducing the fat content to a critical amount (22%wt) can decrease the viscosity of the molten material and reduce the hardness of the crystallized chocolate models. Melting in the mouth, characterized by an in vitro collapse speed, is faster for the samples with an optimized PSD. The decrease in the viscosity by optimizing the PSD in systems with a constant fraction of medium phase is based on the decrease of interparticle contact, reducing the particle aggregates strength, and structure buildup during flow or meltdown. In its crystallized state, the particle network is less interconnected, providing less resistance to breakage and meltdown.

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Flavour results from the integration of aroma, taste and chemosensory information within the brain. Understanding interactions between the anatomically separate systems which relay this information is crucial to our appreciation of how different aspects of food contribute to flavour perception and the formulation of successful products. To examine these interactions, a beverage system was created containing elements capable of stimulating gustatory, olfactory and trigeminal systems. Using ingredients relevant to commercial beverages, water, aroma volatiles, tastants and carbonation, enabled examination of the effects of tastant-aroma-carbonation interactions on sensory perception. Samples, selected according to Doptimal designs, were evaluated by a trained panel. Predictive polynomial models were generated from mean panel data to explain variations in the attributes as a function of design factors. Increasing both sugars and acids resulted in increases in perceived flavour. Evidence of differential flavour enhancement profiles of two sugars at perceptually equi-sweet levels, glucose and fructose, supported previous findings in a non-carbonated system (Hewson et al., Food Qual Prefer 19:323-334, 2008). This difference was also evident in models generated for some mouthfeel attributes (tingling and irritant attributes). Carbonation increased sourness, in agreement with previous literature (McLellan et al., J Food Sci 49:1595-1597, 1984 Yau and McDaniel, J Food Sci 57:1412-1416, but also suppressed sweetness. Interestingly, evaluation of beverages revealed the perception of a bitter aftertaste, which was primarily driven by CO 2 level, enhanced by citric acid, and suppressed by increasing sugar concentration. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the sensory profile of a model carbonated beverage. Analysis provided novel evidence of the influence of multimodal interactions from gustatory, olfactory and trigeminal origin on sensory perception and highlighted the differential effects of two monosaccharides on key sensory attributes.

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a b s t r a c tQuantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) is used to describe the nature and the intensity of sensory properties from a single evaluation of a product, whereas temporal dominance of sensation (TDS) is primarily used to identify dominant sensory properties over time. Previous studies with TDS have focused on model systems, but this is the first study to use a sequential approach, i.e. QDA then TDS in measuring sensory properties of a commercial product category, using the same set of trained assessors (n = 11). The main objectives of this study were to: (1) investigate the benefits of using a sequential approach of QDA and TDS and (2) to explore the impact of the sample composition on taste and flavour perceptions in blackcurrant squashes. The present study has proposed an alternative way of determining the choice of attributes for TDS measurement based on data obtained from previous QDA studies, where available. Both methods indicated that the flavour profile was primarily influenced by the level of dilution and complexity of sample composition combined with blackcurrant juice content. In addition, artificial sweeteners were found to modify the quality of sweetness and could also contribute to bitter notes. Using QDA and TDS in tandem was shown to be more beneficial than each just on its own enabling a more complete sensory profile of the products.