Effectiveness of Palate Cleansers for Evaluating Sourness

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare four palate cleansing strategies (crackers, carrots, water and nothing) for their effectiveness in evaluating the sourness of a fruit-flavored beverage. Forty panelists rated the sourness intensity of five orange drink samples that varied in citric acid content. Each subject participated in four sessions, one for each palate cleanser. As expected, sourness increased with increasing citric acid content. There were no significant differences between any of the palate cleansers for the discrimination among the sourness levels. Sourness neither increased (buildup) nor decreased (adaptation) during the session with any of the palate cleansing strategies. Using carrots or water provided similar discrimination to crackers, but the panelists rated the sourness higher after using carrots or water as a palate cleanser than after using the cracker. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSPalate cleansers are widely used during sensory evaluation of foods. We suspect that part of the reason people use them is because they lower the intensity of residual flavors, leading people to believe the flavors have been removed from their mouth. Our results show that residual cleansers can produce changes in the flavor of subsequently tasted products. Because the nature and extent of these changes will logically depend on the specific product and the specific palate cleansing strategy, experiments need to be conducted to provide these measures.

Discrimination among astringent samples is affected by choice of palate cleanser

“…Though bitterness is known to linger and build with repeated exposures (Lea & Arnold, 1978;Brannan et al, 2001;Johnson & Vickers, 2004), we had not observed a similar trend with sourness ratings in previous studies of a similar nature (Lee & Vickers, 2008;Vickers et al, 2008). However, in both of those studies, we used citric and phosphoric acids, which are both weak acids.…”

“…Buffering capacity could have been increased by the proteins in skim milk, the carboxyl groups of CMC or by the increased quantity of saliva from chewing wax. Other cleansers, like crackers, may have raised the oral pH between samples (Vickers, Morris, & Savaria, 2008) and limited the subsequent pH drop from the following acid solution. Using water as a cleanser, however, likely diluted the saliva that was present and diminished its buffering capacity.…”

Assessing the Influence of Visual-Taste Congruency on Perceived Sweetness and Product Liking in Immersive VR

“…The 100 mL amounts, in their plastic cups, were placed in the test room one hour prior to the experiment and the room temperature was kept constant at 22 • C to ensure maximum taste sensitivity in the 20 to 30 • C temperature range [65,66]. Palate cleansing was performed to remove any residue before and between taste samples to minimise carryover effects [67][68][69]. Water, one of the most effective palate cleansers for sweetness [70], was used in this study.…”

Determination of a lexicon for the sensory flavor attributes of smoked food products

“…One issue in accurately evaluating multiple products in one session, is the need for panelists to cleanse their palate. Many items have been suggested to work as palate cleansers and many products generally have been discounted when formally tested (see, e.g., Lee & Vickers, 2010;Naswari & Pangborn, 1990;Vickers et al, 2008). However, in some studies options such as crackers (Ross et al, 2007) or mozzarella cheese, cucumbers, apples, and unsalted crackers (Lucak & Delwiche, 2009) worked as a palate cleanser.…”