Texture Analysis in action: the SMS/Miller-Hoseney Toughness Rig

The SMS/MILLER-HOSENEY TOUGHNESS RIG (A/MHTR) has been developed in conjunction with Prof. Hoseney and Dr. Miller of the Kansas State University. 

It is used to determine the toughness and firmness of bread and other sliceable products. 

Materials and Packaging Physical Characterisation

Manufacturers today, particularly in the FMCG arena, are aware of the importance of packaging to the success of their businesses.

No matter how desirable or valuable a product, if its packaging fails, it may become unfit for purpose, impossible to handle and store, or even completely unusable and unsellable. Poor packaging performance can not only damage the product it contains, but also the reputation and profitability of the company that supplied it.

Texture Analysis in action: the Multiple Pea Test Rig

The MULTIPLE PEA TEST RIG (HDP/MPT*) 

This rig measures the force to simultaneously penetrate up to 18 samples.

The insert has 18 indentations surrounding a cone which allows the samples to easily locate into the test positions.

Puncture strength and penetration force are measured and the penetration distance set so that the probes penetrate completely through the sample.

It’s time to perform Textural Magic! Part Four

Textural magic – designing texture into your new products

Marketplace developments suggest that consumers — and product developers — are very focused on texture.

The texture movement began around 2010, when the number of best-selling new products with a texture claim doubled over the previous 10-year period; growth has been strong and steady ever since.

The time to flaunt texture is now. Texture has enormous appeal to foodies, who are looking to find more adventure in foods. Texture is increasingly being used to confirm if a product is “real”, “fresh”, or “less processed”. Pieces of real nuts or dried fruit signal quality in cookies and bars. Moreover, texture claims are also helping to manage shoppers’ taste expectations for new products. For example, will that cookie be soft and chewy or crisp and hard?

Texture Analysis in action: the Granule Compaction Rig

The GRANULE COMPACTION RIG (HDP/GCR*) 

Granule hardness/compressibility testing is important to provide an indicator of the tabletting potential of some materials, or a measure of friability or compaction strength of granules.   

Where granules are irregular in form, the testing of single granules is discouraged as repeatability is compromised. In this instance, the testing of a fixed area of sample creates an averaging effect and improves the repeatability of the results. 

Snack Product Texture Measurement and Analysis

Breakfast cereals and snack foods such as tortilla chips, potato crisps, corn puffs and prawn crackers have many features in common, both in their manufacturing processes and in their product characteristics. 

Many of these products are made from similar types of raw materials and tend to be processed as doughs at much higher temperatures than those used for conventional baked products.

Although the final products in the breakfast cereal and snack food markets are distinctly different in their appearance, they all tend to have low residual moisture contents and similar brittle crispy textures.

It’s time to perform Textural Magic! Part Three

Performing textural magic with the use of new food preparation techniques

The Croquanter Technique – creating crunchy fruit and vegetables

Dehydrating foods is a process which has been carried out forever but, more recently, molecular gastronomy chefs have been using the dehydration technique in very creative ways.

Crunchy Sheets is a technique developed by molecular gastronomy Chef Ferran Adria to create a variety of shapes of crispy sheets of ingredients such as fruit, vegetable and yogurt with the addition of caster sugar, isomalt and/or glucose. The crunchy sheets are made at relatively low temperatures (under 80°C) to preserve the delicate aromas of the main ingredient and a dehydrator is used to obtain the crunchy texture.

Texture Analysis in action: Bloom test for gels

GELS (Bloom test):
P/0.5 - AOAC method;
P/0.5R - ISO method
XT/BL - Bloom jar

The measurement of gel strength is of widespread interest in the manufacture of pharmaceutical, medical and cosmetic products, and also in areas of the food industry such as confectionery.

Gel properties such as elasticity and rupture force of, for example, pectin, gelatine, agar etc. are important in the development of such products as coronary stents where hydrogel polymers are selected due to their soft, rubbery nature which gives them a strong, superficial resemblance to living, soft tissue.