Flavour perception is made up of a combination of smell, taste, and texture. Sensory characteristics of food, in particular the taste and flavour, have a very specific effect on the consumers’ food choice.
In many ways the sensory attributes is a key area in which food manufacturers can differentiate their products from the competitors’.
One key parameter that affects flavour is particle size. For example, smaller salt particles will dissolve quicker and lead to stronger flavour effect respect to bigger particles, keeping identical the total amount of sodium.
Key factors to control the desired flavour of coffee are the degree of roasting, with longer roasting times yielding a stronger taste, and the particle size of the ground material. If coffee contain too large particles, then flavour will be softer.
Smaller particle size leads to higher surface area, and allows a more rapid extraction of coffee flavour and an overall stronger coffee. Another effect of particle size is that smaller milled coffee particle pack together more closely, offering a greater water resistance during the brewing process ending to a stronger coffee flavour.
The graph below shows the particle size distribution of 3 different types of coffee: strong flavour (Espresso) presents the smaller particle size distribution while soft coffee flavour (Filter) has the largest particle size distribution.
Milk flavour needs as well to be controlled as milk consumer likes to get a consistent milk flavor all year round, despite the quality of the grass being different from spring to winter. To get consistent milk flavor, manufacturer are using homogenization process which to reduce mechanically the size of the fat globules.
Below is an example of particle size distribution during milk homogenization: the presence of large fat particles from 1 to 10 micron at early stage of the homogenization process are reduced below 1um after homogenization process.
Shall you be interested in evaluating the influence of particles size on your food product flavour, feel free to contact us ! Alfatestlab is equipped with a unique technological platform to support you in your formulation process.
