Describing Sensory Qualities

When describing food, we should not put in our own feeling about the food.

Choose the description which is not accepted because it reflect the feeling of the observer.

• Can is very soft. When I chew about 5 times, it almost disappear in my mouth.

• Super dark brown. Look almost burnt.

• Tasted so heavenly. The best flavour I have ever tasted.

• Bland

Sensory properties also known as sensory qualities are the properties that we can observe with our 5 senses.

Which of the following is wrong?

• Sense of touch: Mouthfeel

• Sense of sight: Appearance

• Sense of touch: texture

• Sense of taste + Sense of smell: Aroma

Mouthfeel refers to the texture that you can feel with the mouth when you eat food.

Which of the following is not a description for mouthfeel?

• buttery, slightly salty

• moist and crumbles easily

• hard to swallow, very dry

• melt in the mouth easily, can swallow even without chewing

Flavour refers to the smell and taste that you can observe when you eat food.

Which of the following not a description for flavour?

• Smell eggy and slightly burnt

• Very floury and not sweet at all

• yellowish top looking slightly dry

• Sweet caramel smell and very buttery

When describing a sensory property, it is important to be specific so as to show exactly what it is like.

Which of the following descriptions for taste is specific?

• Sweet

• Salty

• Bland

• Very sweet

When describing a sensory property, it is important to be specific so as to show exactly what it is like.

Which of the following descriptions for taste is acceptable and is specific?

• Taste like flour

• Taste very very very bad

• Slightly salty but the eggy taste is very strong.

• So rough

It is important to describe in details. For example, there are many aspects to appearance that we can describe.

Which of the following are the aspects of appearance that we should include in our description?

• Colour on the external of food

• Colour of the internal of food

• The shape of food

• The patterns that may be seen on the food and inside the food

• All of the above

It is important to describe in details. For example, there are many aspects to appearance that we can describe.

Which of the following are the aspects of mouthfeel that we should include in our description?

• Softness/Hardness/Texture of the food

• The moisture content of the food that I can detect

• Difficulty/Ease of chewing the food

• Difficulty/Ease of swallowing the food

• All of the above

"This drink is brown in colour. Slightly translucent. When I check it, I can see fizziness inside."

How can the above description of appearance be improved?

• Describe how the fizziness feel in when the drink is in the mouth.

• Describe how brown it is or the shade of brown.

• Describe the smell which can be detected.

"The cake tasted extremely sweet."

How can the above description of flavour be improved?

• Describe other flavours other that sweetness that can be tasted.

• Describe the smell of the cake.

• All of the above