Mouthfeel

Mouthfeel refers to the physical sensations in the mouth caused by food or drink, making it distinct from taste. It is a fundamental sensory attribute which, along with taste and smell, determines the overall flavor of a food item.[1][2] Mouthfeel is also sometimes referred to as texture.[2]

For the album, see Mouthfeel (album).
A child bites into a watermelon, with mouthfeel sensations such as juiciness

It is used in many areas related to the testing and evaluating of foodstuffs, such as wine-tasting and food rheology.[3] It is evaluated from initial perception on the palate, to first bite, through chewing to swallowing and aftertaste. In wine-tasting, for example, mouthfeel is usually used with a modifier (big, sweet, tannic, chewy, etc.) to the general sensation of the wine in the mouth.[4] Research indicates texture and mouthfeel can also influence satiety with the effect of viscosity most significant.[5]

Mouthfeel is often related to a product's water activity—hard or crisp products having lower water activities and soft products having intermediate to high water activities.[6]

Qualities perceived
  • Chewiness: The sensation of sustained, elastic resistance from food while it is chewed.
  • Cohesiveness: Degree to which the sample deforms before rupturing when biting with molars.
  • Crunchiness: The audible grinding of a food when it is chewed.
  • Density: 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.
  • Exquisiteness: Perceived quality of the item in question.
  • 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 a 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; homogeneity.
  • Uniformity of bite: Evenness of force through bite.
  • Uniformity of chew: Degree to which the chewing characteristics of the product are even throughout mastication.
  • Viscosity: Force required to draw a liquid from a spoon over the tongue.
  • Wetness: Amount of moisture perceived on product's surface.

See also

References
  1. Mouritsen, Ole G.; Styrbæk, Klavs (2017). Mouthfeel: How Texture Makes Taste. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-54324-8.
  2. Guinard, Jean-Xavier; Mazzucchelli, Rossella (July 1996). "The sensory perception of texture and mouthfeel". Trends in Food Science & Technology. 7 (7): 213–219. doi:10.1016/0924-2244(96)10025-X.
  3. Goodwin, Lindsey (26 December 2017). "Mouthfeel Defined". The Spruce. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  4. Dollase, Jürgen (2005). Geschmacksschule (in German). Wiesbaden, Germany: Tre Torri Verlag. ISBN 978-3-937963-20-4.
  5. Stribiţcaia, Ecaterina; Evans, Charlotte E. L.; Gibbons, Catherine; Blundell, John; Sarkar, Anwesha (2020-07-31). "Food texture influences on satiety: systematic review and meta-analysis". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 12929. Bibcode:2020NatSR..1012929S. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-69504-y. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7395742. PMID 32737349.
  6. Katz, E. E.; Labuza, T. P. (March 1981). "Effect of Water Activity on the Sensory Crispness and Mechanical Deformation of Snack Food Products". Journal of Food Science. 46 (2): 403–409. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1981.tb04871.x.

Further reading
  • 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.
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