Month: February 2024

Purées are very thick and viscous slurries made from processed vegetables that are often concentrated and include fibrous material or fruit pieces that adds structure. They are commonly used in fillings for pies, ketchup or baby food. Additional ingredients are usually added to manipulate consistency and processing properties. For the measurement of consistency, a Back Extrusion test […]

In the Far East, tofu is the most popular soybean food whilst in the West, tofu is gaining in popularity. Tofu is very similar to cheese in appearance, texture, and chemical composition. By controlling the amount of coagulants and pressure applied during moulding, the texture of the tofu may be varied from extra firm, firm, […]

Cooking in oil is widely used in the production of snack foods of various kinds, and results in drastic changes to the structure of the food.   Penetration of oil is particularly important for structure development in products such as potato chips, tortilla chips and potato crisps. In products which become totally hard and crisp, […]

By-products and waste generation are having an impact on environmental, economic, and social sectors.  To the environment, these contribute to GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Many of these biomaterials are not utilised and end up in municipal landfills where they create serious environmental problems due to microbial decomposition and leachate production. In some cases, the by-products […]

In the nearly 40 years since soy milk was first introduced in the U.S. and Europe, the offerings for plant-based dairy alternatives have expanded significantly to include a wealth of options from nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits, grains and root vegetables.  In fact, industry experts predict that by 2026, the market for dairy alternative products could […]

Across the globe, consumers are increasingly looking for non-meat options when buying protein as part of their diet.  Meat has been the main source of protein in developed markets for years. However, a change in consumer behaviour has led to a growth in the alternative proteins market due to health concerns, environmental reasons and animal […]

What is a puncture/penetration test?   In a penetration/puncture test a probe is made to penetrate into the test sample and the force necessary to achieve a certain penetration depth or the depth of penetration in a specified time, under defined conditions, is measured and used as an index of e.g. hardness, firmness, toughness. Both test principles […]

What is a compression test?   A compression test is perhaps the most simple and popular test of instrumental texture measurement. In its simplest method, a sample is placed on a flat base/surface and a flat probe/platen is lowered onto the sample to a given force or distance (or the sample is compressed to a percentage of […]