Morphologies, volume fraction and viscosity of cell wall particle dispersions particle related to sensory perception

• Plant cell wall dispersions perceived differently depending on particle microstructure.
• Cell wall clusters perceived as the grainiest, most crunchy and throatcatching.
• Single cells or cell fragments perceived as creamy, cohesive and mouthcoating.
• Addition of biopolymers reduced grainy mouthfeel and increased creaminess.
• Soft cell wall particles in the size range (30–400 μm) were not perceived as grainy.

Understanding the effect of cell wall particle structure on sensory perception could provide new strategies for the use of plant material based ingredients in the production of healthier food with desired sensory properties. The objective of this study was to establish relationships between physical characteristics of cell wall particles and their texture/mouthfeel sensory properties. Three carrot cell wall particle dispersions with distinct particle morphologies were produced using a combination of temperature, heating time and mechanical shear forces. These were: 1) cell wall clusters with an average particle size (d0.5 of 225 μm), 2) single cells (d0.5 = 92 μm) and 3) cell fragments (d0.5 = 56 μm). A final set of ten particle dispersions (including a range of iso-viscous samples) were studied by sensory descriptive analysis using a trained sensory panel. Significant sensory differences were found between the carrot cellular systems which had different particle shape, size distributions and rheology. The dispersions containing cell wall clusters were perceived as the grainiest, most crunchy and throatcatching. The dispersions containing single cells or cell fragments were perceived as creamy, cohesive and mouthcoating with no grainy mouthfeel. The presence of biopolymers (xanthan or pectin) in the continuous phase decreased the textural perception of the particles, reducing grainy mouthfeel and increasing the perception of creaminess. The sensory data also indicated that carrot particles in the size range (30–400 μm) were not perceived as grainy, demonstrating that these carrot structures are soft enough not to be mechanically detected as individual particles during eating.

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