Flavor intensity

Flavor Intensity. In most sensory tests, a person is asked to associate a name or a number with his perceptions of a substance he sniffed or tasted. The set from which these names or numbers are chosen is called a scale. The four general types of scales are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio (17). Each has different properties and allowable statistics (4,14). The measurement of flavor intensity, unlike the evaluation of quaUty, requires an ordered scale, the simplest of which is an ordinal scale. 

Whole grains means grains of cereals from which no part has been intentionally removed. The unique taste characteristics and smokey flavor of Scotch is developed from peat used in the whisky production process. The character and amount of peat used in malting the barley have a critical affect on the flavor intensity of the final product. The aroma of the burning peat is absorbed by the barley malt and is carried through the distillation process. 

Food colorants play an important role in quality perception. Color is often the first notable characteristic of a food and it influences the expectations of consumers buying the product and also influences food handlers who make quality-related decisions, for example, during visual inspections." More specifically, color predetermines our expectations and perceptions of flavor and taste. " Color is interrelated with flavor intensity (detection threshold), with sweetness and salinity sensations, and also with our susceptibilities to and preferences for products. For example, consumers perceived a strongly red-colored strawberry-flavored drink to be sweeter than a less colored version, and yellow was associated with lemon and pink with grapefruit, but by reversing the colors, flavor perception changed." If food color is not appealing, consumers will not enjoy the flavor and texture of the food. ... 

Concentration and Identification of Flavor Volatiles in Heated Beef Fat fay SC-CO2 Extraction. Um et al. (30) studied the flavor intensities of lipids separated in different fractions of SC-CO2 extracts at two pressures from heated beef tallow. The tallow was heated at 100°C for 2 hr and extracted at 207 bar/50 C and 345 bar/50°C. Six 1 kg fractions of CO2 were used to extract 100 g of tallow at each pressure and separated at 34.5 bar/40°C. 

Overall Flavor Intensity Aroma Intensity Perceived Alcohol Taste... 

The samples (ca. 2500 g for each sample) were spray dried in a Niro Utility drier with the inlet temperature at 200 C and outlet at 100 C. The drier temperatures were allowed to stabilize before samples were collected for analysis. The dried samples were analyzed for total oil, surface oil, moisture, emulsion size and emulsion stability. Samples were also stored at an elevated temperature for shelf-life determination. Sensory analysis of rehydrated powder from the coarse and Microfluidized emulsions was performed to determine if differences in emulsion size affects the perceived flavor intensity. 

As discussed by Carl (5), the degree of amelioration for specific musts is a decision to be made by the winemaker and is dependent on both the must characteristics and the type of wine to be made. It is necessary to re-evaluate each must each year to consistently produce high quality wines from the various native and hybrid varieties. Total acidity is not the only criterion on which this decision is based. Sugar content, color, flavor intensity, and ultimate wine type are important factors in determining the amount of amelioration to be used. 

Storage Temperature. The role of storage temperature in the oxidative deterioration of dairy products is anomalous. Dunkley and Franke (1967) observed more intense oxidized flavors and higher TBA values in fluid milks stored at 0°C than at 4° and 8°C. The flavor intensity and the TBA values decreased with increasing storage temperature. Other conditions being equal, condensed milk stored at - 17°C is more susceptible to the development of oxidized flavor than is condensed milk maintained at -7°C (Parks 1974). 

Low-molecular-weight peptides play an important role in the flavor intensity of meat and beef broth (27b). A beefy meat peptide isolated of beef imparts desirable sensory properties and has potential as a flavor enhancer in heat-processed foods (27c,d). Peptides released in dry-cured ham during processing were evaluated by HPLC and related to the ham flavor formation (27e,f). 

The effects of seven processing variables which, on the basis of previous literature reports (7, 27) and our chemical studies on model systems, might affect the irradiation flavor intensity or consumer acceptance of irradiated steaks were evaluated in statistically designed and analyzed experiments. Steaks were then prepared using the processing conditions shown to be optimum by these experiments and evaluated for consumer acceptance and storage stability. 

IV. Smaller but possibly significant effects of warming rate and packaging environment are shown in Figure 6, complicated by interaction with the irradiation temperature. The effects of both packaging and warming rate variables were largest at — 196°C. The lowest irradiation flavor intensity... 

Table IV. Mean Irradiation Flavor Intensity Scores of Enzyme-Inactivated Beefsteaks after Irradiation at 6.0 Megarads in Initial Process Variable Screening Experiment...

The irradiation flavor scores in Table V show quantitatively the dependence of irradiation flavor intensity on irradiation temperature for both oxygen-packed and vacuum-packed steaks brought to 4°C. rapidly after irradiation. 

The relationship between irradiation flavor intensity and temperature is essentially linear for both packaging methods, except for the temperature of — 140°C. where in both cases the irradiation flavor intensity observed was too high. This suggests that the temperature control system may have failed during the irradiations at this temperature. The flavor scores shown in Table V for a second set of samples (from a different animal) irradiated at —140° and — 196°C. in a subsequent experiment support this suggestion. 

Table V. Effect of Irradiation Temperature on Irradiation Flavor Intensity of Steaks Irradiated at 6.0 Megarads...

Effect of Packaging Environment. Because of the opposing effects of postirradiation warming rate on steaks packed in an oxygen atmosphere and on vacuum-packed steaks discussed above, it was not possible to establish a clear preference on the basis of initial irradiation flavor intensity scores. 

Table VIII. Irradiation Flavor Intensity Scores (with 95% Confidence Intervals)0 of Steaks Irradiated at — 196°C. at 6.0 Megarads after Storage at 100°F.

These samples were evaluated by both the trained irradiation flavor intensity panel and consumer panels at the Swift Co. Research and Development Center. No effects owing to grade or cut of meat were found, but statistically significant animal-to-animal variations were found by both panels. 

The results of the process variable study reported above, along with our previous study (31) of steak preparation variables, lead us to recommend the processing conditions in Table IX for preparing shelf-stable beefsteaks of maximum acceptability. The processing variables having the greatest effects on irradiation flavor intensity and organoleptic acceptability are... 

Test panel scores over the 12-month test period are shown in Table XI. Since the irradiation flavor scores of the product held at — 20°C. should not change appreciably with time, it appears that the indicated fluctuations in flavor intensity are caused by the taste panel and not by differences in the samples. Some panel evaluation difficulties were experienced with these samples, owing to a variable amount of edge charring which occurred during preparation of the steaks. The texture of these steaks remained good during the test period. 

Correlation of Chemical Yields in Model Systems with Irradiation Flavor Intensity. The observed effect of irradiation temperature on irradiation flavor intensity in beefsteak is shown in Figure 7. For 6-megarad irradiation the flavor intensity scores at —80°C. are roughly 75% of those at +20°C. and at — 196°C. are approximately 50% of +20°C. scores. Comparing these percentage decreases at each temperature with the corresponding decreases in chemical yields reported in Table III shows no obvious correlation beyond the fact that both irradiation flavor scores and chemical yields from the peptides decrease with decreasing irradiation temperature. 

Organoleptic studies on irradiated beefsteaks showed that irradiation flavor intensity is significantly lower at lower irradiation temperatures and depends on postirradiation warming rates. 

Valdes, R. M. Hinreiner, E. Simone, M. J. Effect of sucrose and organic acids on apparent flavor intensity. I. Aqueous Solutions. Food Technol., 1956, 10, 282-285. 

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