An artificial mouth to show how essential aroma is in relishing food
ENJOYING one's food is almost
as dependent on the sense of P1
smell as on the tastebuds. In P-9
fact, it is the nose that first gets
a whiff of aroma emanating
from the meal, which if found
appetising, makes the mouth
water. Again, addition of saliva
to food morsels in the act of
chewing produces aromas that
travel to the nose through the
back of the nasal passage, dramatically enhancing flavour.
Now, Deborah Roberts and colleagues at the Cornell University in New York have
to devised an artificial mouth od
simulate the act of chewing, to
demonstrate the importance of
the retronasal aromas, and the
device might be particularly
useful to the food industry (New Scientist, Vol 146, No 1975).
A food mixer coupled with a gas
chromatograph makes up the artificial
mouth. A water-based solution containing saliva salts and enzymes acts as artificial saliva which is then mixed with the
food. The released aromas are fed into
the gas chromatograph, which separates
them into their individual components.
Each chemical is then cooled, moistened and fed to a human "sniffer" who
defines the odour according to a series
of specific descriptions, such as "fruity" or "smoky".
The "mouth sniffer" has already
picked out flavour compounds added in
known quantities to food, and has also
identified the chemical that give raspberries their "floral" flavour. The
researchers' next task is to find out why
low-fat foods often taste worse than
their full-fat counterparts - could it be
that the full-fat foods trap some of the
less desirable aroma compounds, which
are released once the fat is removed?
It's really a challenge to food product developers first to try to work out what flavour compounds are important
in full-fat foods, and then to see what's
different in their reduced fat counterparts," says Roberts. "Once you know
what is it that's causing the off-note, you
can look at what ingredient is responsible and do a reformulation to try to
minimise that."
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