Influence of texture on the temporal perception of sweetness of gelled systems

The aim of this work was to study how the texture of two hydrocolloid gelled systems with different mechanical properties – κ-carrageenan and gellan gum – sweetened with two sweeteners with different sweetening power – sucrose and aspartame – influence the temporal perception of sweetness using a time–intensity test. The results show that the different aspects of temporal perception of sweetness of hydrocolloid gels were related to their mechanical properties in different ways. Maximum sweetness intensity was closely related to the amount of deformation required to break the network and with its resistance to deformation. Meanwhile resistance to rupture was also an important factor influencing the variation in the rate of intensity decrease. The time needed to reach maximum sweetness intensity was only dependent on sweetener concentration.