Sweetness and texture perception in mixed pectin gels with 30% sugar and a designed rheology

Pure low-methoxyl (LM) pectin and mixtures of LM and high-methoxyl (HM) pectin in different ratios were used to produce gels with control over the rheological parameter storage modulus (G′). The gels either had similar pectin concentrations and different G′ values, or different pectin concentrations and similar G′ values. All gels were prepared with 30 g/100 g sugar, in the presence of 0.1 g/100 g CaCl2, at pH 3.5; these are conditions that favour gel formation of both LM and HM pectin.The gels were compared for their sensory characteristics; specifically sweetness, sourness, thickness, and glueyness. Sweetness was found to increase with increasing storage modulus (G′) in pectin gels of similar pectin concentration, but different G′ values. Gels with higher proportions of LM pectin were perceived as sweeter than those with low LM pectin ratios. These gels also had increasing loss modulus (G″), and increasing differences between G′ and G″, which indicates that diffusion has a bearing on the perception of sweetness in pectin gels. Thickness and glueyness were mostly determined by total pectin concentration. Thickness also increased with increasing LM pectin concentration while glueyness increased with increasing HM pectin concentration.