Texture of Fresh‐pack Whole Cucumber Pickles: Correlation of Instrumental and Sensory Measurements*

Abstract

Correlations were determined between Texture Profile Analysis parameters of brittleness, hardness or total work of compression obtained with the Instron testing machine and sensory responses of firmness or crispness in evaluating texture of fresh‐pack processed whole cucumbers (1‐in. diam) of three ‘firm’ pickling cultivars (Explorer, Chipper, GY 3), two ‘soft’ pickling cultivars (Green F, Mincu) and a parthenocarpic slicer (MSU 6902 G). Further, correlations were determined between the TPA parameters and Magness‐Taylor fruit pressure test (FPT) firmness. TPA hardness and total work correlated well with sensory responses; FPT firmness correlated satisfactorily with sensory firmness. Mean textural values from the various methods were compared with those obtained in the same manner for raw cucumbers. TPA brittleness tended to disappear in the processed fruit. Processing reduced mean TPA values across the six varieties to 35‐58% of raw fruit values; it decreased mean FPT firmness to only 88%.

Standard Scales for Crispness, Crackliness and Crunchiness in Dry and Wet Foods: Relationship With Acoustical Determinations

“…Biting with front teeth Jeon et al 1975 Products that produce a higher pitched sound. Biting with front teeth Vickers 1984b First bite: place the product between the incisors, bite through and evaluate the level of higher pitched noise.…”

Force‐deformation Conditions Associated With the Evaluation of Brittleness and Crispness in Selected Foods1

“…Crispness is regarded as almost synonymous with freshness and wholesomeness in food (Szczesniak and Kahn 1971) and is related to low cohesiveness (Szczesniak 1963). The crispness of pickled cucumbers has been defined as the relative force required to bite through the sample (Jeon et al 1975). Brittleness is considered to be a secondary parameter related to two primary parameters, firmness and cohesiveness (Szczesniak 1963).…”

“…Several studies have been made on crispness and/or brittleness of foods including pears (Bourne 1968), potatoes (Schmidt and Ahmed 1971), mangoes and peaches (Ahmed and Dennison 1971), apples, cracker biscuits, celery, potato crisps and pickled onions (Iles and Elson 1972), cucumbers (Breene et al 1972;Jeon et al 1978), carrots, beets and potatoes (Massey and Woodams 1973), baked goods (Wasserman 1874) and biscuits (Brennan et al 1974). Breene (1975) has reviewed the experimental procedures used in many studies of this type and made the very important point that there is no consistency in the experimental conditions adopted by different workers in the instrumental evaluation of textural characteristics. Since it is now recognised that the deformation rate can influence the instrumental evaluation of textural properties (Shama and Sherman 1973a,b;Bourne 1974;Voisey 1975;Boyd and Sherman 1976) it was considered appropEiate to reexamine the criteria which influence the sensory evaluatiqn of crispness and brittleness so that they could be more closely simulated by instrumental evaluation procedures.…”

Inheritance of firmness in raw cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) fruit

“…The high correlations throughout (r > 0.85) suggested that MTFPT could be used for rapid determination of cucumber texture in the field. High correlations between firmness values for raw and processed cucumbers were also found (JEON et al, 1975a(JEON et al, , 1975b. However, commercial use of the MTFPT for comparison of texture in raw versus processed cucumbers was shown to have some, probably minor, limitations based on the 6 cultivars studied.…”

“…Comparisons of TPA textural values on raw and brined fruit showed that of these 3 parameters, only hardness and total work of compression were maintained tnrough the brining process . JEON et al (1973JEON et al ( , 1975aJEON et al ( , 1975b correlated sensory evaluation of cucumber texture with Magness-Taylor Fruit Pressure Tester (MTFPT) firmness, and the TPA parameters brittleness, hardness, and total work of compression. They worked with raw fruit and 2 types of processed fruit -fresh-pack and brined.…”