Sweetness and aroma perceptions in model dairy desserts: an overview

Model dairy desserts, with four textures (obtained by the varying nature of the carrageenan), three sucrose levels and three aroma levels (a blend of four aroma compounds: ethyl pentanoate, amyl acetate, hexanal, (E)-2-hexenal) were evaluated by a 19-person panel to study sensory perceptions and their interactions. Sweetness intensity varied with the texture of the dessert and could be modelled from the formulation. This impact of texture on taste perception probably originated from physicochemical interactions: the apparent mass transfer coefficients of sugars, but not the water self-diffusion coefficient, varied with texture in agreement with changes in sweetness intensity. Perception of the aroma did not change the sweetness and the impact of the texture on sweetness but the intensity of the aroma changed with sweetness and texture. For each aroma compound, air-dessert partition coefficients did not depend on sucrose or textural agent and the averaged profile of in vivo aroma release showed no difference with the sucrose level and little difference with the texture of the desserts. Perceptual sweetness-aroma interactions were the main factor influencing aroma perception, whatever the texture of the desserts; a small impact of texture, linked with the initial rate of aroma release in the mouth, was evidenced. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.