Flavor lexicon for sensory descriptive profiling of different rice types.
Rice flavor is a significant factor in determining quality and consumer acceptability as exemplified by scented rice, which is highly favored and commands a price premium. Sensory descriptive analysis has primarily been performed to assess rice flavor characteristics, but these studies feature only a limited lexicon for characterizing specific flavors or the range of flavor types is limited. This study was undertaken to establish a descriptive lexicon with reference standards for describing the flavor properties of a broad spectrum of rice types and use the developed lexicon to characterize which sensory attributes are most important in rice flavor quality. A rice flavor lexicon consisting of 24 descriptive notes was developed and expanded by 8 trained sensory panelists to characterize the flavor of cooked rice differing in terms of forms, types, and specialty (n = 36). Of these 24 descriptive terms, 19 were aromatic notes and 5 were fundamental tastes and oral feeling factors. Eighteen aromatic terms were significantly present in most rice samples whereas some descriptors exhibited unique characteristics of a specific-rice type. Subsequent multivariate analysis indicated that 18 descriptive terms were required to fully understand the characteristics of rice flavor in greater details. This lexicon covered a wider range of rice samples than in the previous studies and will facilitate targeting the characteristic notes important to rice processors as well as producers.
Limpawattana
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Dept. of Food Science and Technology, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Shewfelt
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RL
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry*; D011786:Quality Control; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry*; D012677:Sensation; D013045:Species Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013649:Taste; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D055815:Young Adult