Texture Analysis of your Breakfast

A satisfying breakfast sets you up for the rest of the day. It is often composed of many different components, each with a different texture, and there are many variations around the world.

An example of a widely-consumed breakfast is the “continental breakfast”, comprising of bread, cold meat, cheese, yoghurt, fruit and cereal. Regarding texture, bread should be resilient (brittleness in bread suggests staleness), ham and salami should be tender, and breakfast cheese may be soft.

• Cylinder Probe • Film Support Rig
• Back Extrusion Rig • Ottawa Cell

Bread resilience can be measured by compressing the centre of a slice with a Cylinder Probe for 30 seconds – the less the force drops over this time, the more resilient the bread. Ham and salami can be assessed by measuring their resistance to puncture on a Film Support Rig – high forces suggest a tough sample, and the hardness and brittleness of cheese can be measured in a fracture wedge test.

Yoghurt is well-suited to the Back Extrusion test. The higher the value of the initial penetration, the firmer the sample, and a large area correlates to a thicker consistency. There is a range of desirable values for consistency – too low and the yoghurt will feel thin and runny. Too high and it feels unpleasant in the mouth, which is often the case with low fat yoghurts.

Breakfast cereal is delicious served with milk, but can become soggy if left in the bowl for too long. The ‘bowl life’ of cereal can be assessed by measuring its hardness and crispness in an Ottawa Cell after immersion in milk.

Stable Micro Systems offer hundreds of food testing solutions to help you deliver a winning breakfast.

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We can design and manufacture probes or fixtures for the TA.XTplus texture analyser that are bespoke to your sample and its specific measurement.

Once your measurement is performed, our expertise in its graphical interpretation is unparalleled. Not only can we develop the most suitable and accurate method for the testing of your sample, but we can also prepare analysis procedures that obtain the desired parameters from your curve and drop them into a spreadsheet or report designed around your requirements.

For more information on how to measure texture, please visit the Texture Analysis Properties section on our website.

The TA.XTplus texture analyser is part of a family of texture analysis instruments and equipment from Stable Micro Systems. An extensive portfolio of specialist attachments is available to measure and analyse the textural properties of a huge range of food products. Our technical experts can also custom design instrument fixtures according to individual specifications.

No-one understands texture analysis like we do!

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