Explaining tolerance for bitterness in chocolate ice cream using solid chocolate preferences

Abstract

Chocolate ice cream is commonly formulated with higher sugar levels than nonchocolate flavors to compensate for the inherent bitterness of cocoa. Bitterness, however, is an integral part of the complex flavor of chocolate. In light of the global obesity epidemic, many consumers and health professionals are concerned about the levels of added sugars in foods. Once a strategy for balancing undesirable bitterness and health concerns regarding added sugars has been developed, the task becomes determining whether that product will be acceptable to the consumer. Thus, the purpose of this research was to manipulate the bitterness of chocolate ice cream to examine how this influences consumer preferences. The main goal of this study was to estimate group rejection thresholds for bitterness in chocolate ice cream, and to see if solid chocolate preferences (dark vs. milk) generalized to ice cream. A food-safe bitter ingredient, sucrose octaacetate, was added to chocolate ice cream to alter bitterness without disturbing other the sensory qualities of the ice cream samples, including texture. Untrained chocolate ice cream consumers participated in a large-scale sensory test by indicating their preferences for blinded pairs of unspiked and spiked samples, where the spiked sample had increasing levels of the added bitterant. As anticipated, the group containing individuals who prefer milk chocolate had a much lower tolerance for bitterness in their chocolate ice cream compared with the group of individuals who prefer dark chocolate; indeed, the dark chocolate group tolerated almost twice as much added bitterant in the ice cream before indicating a significant preference for the unspiked (control) ice cream. This work demonstrates the successful application of the rejection threshold method to a complex dairy food. Estimating rejection thresholds could prove to be an effective tool for determining acceptable formulations or quality limits when considering attributes that become objectionable at high intensities.

Sensory Profile, Drivers of Liking, and Influence of Information on the Acceptance of Low‐Calorie Synbiotic and Probiotic Chocolate Ice Cream

“…As reported by Harwood et al. (), the chocolate ice cream has a high bitter taste, which is minimized by the presence of fat and sugar in the formulation. Besides the inherent bitterness of cocoa, sweeteners are also responsible for the perception of bitterness and residual bitter in the ice cream, as reported by consumers (Bolini‐Cardello et al., ).…”

Influence of temperature and fat content on ideal sucrose concentration, sweetening power, and sweetness equivalence of different sweeteners in chocolate milk beverage

“…This theory was upheld by a recent study using water at low temperatures to assess the intensity of sweet taste in chocolate (Mony et al, 2012) and by another study using projective mapping on wines maintained at different temperatures (Ross et al, 2012). Increased perception of sweetness may also help mask undesirable sensory attributes such as the perception of bitterness in chocolate-flavored products, as reported in chocolate ice cream (Harwood et al, 2013). Nevertheless, this information cannot be generalized because of variation in the intensity of sweet taste perception when different studies are compared (Bartoshuk et al, 1982;Schiffman et al, 2000).…”

Tolerance for High Flavanol Cocoa Powder in Semisweet Chocolate

“…One method for determining acceptable concentrations of compounds or ingredients that become aversive at high levels is to determine a group rejection threshold, e.g., [9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Use of rejection thresholds were originally applied to “off flavors” in wines, e.g., [9,11,15].…”

“…Previous studies investigating rejection thresholds for bitterness in chocolate flavored products [12,13,14] have relied on an added bitter ingredient (sucrose octaacetate, or SOA) that is not a naturally occurring source of bitterness in chocolate. While these studies provide important theoretical groundwork, it remains to be seen if the same clear segmentation will occur in similar populations when the differences between the samples are due to bitter and astringent compounds normally found in chocolate.…”

“…While these studies provide important theoretical groundwork, it remains to be seen if the same clear segmentation will occur in similar populations when the differences between the samples are due to bitter and astringent compounds normally found in chocolate. That is, previous studies have found that populations preferring dark chocolate have significantly higher rejection thresholds for the added bitterant (SOA) when presented in chocolate-flavored products such as chocolate milk [12], milk chocolate-flavored compound coating [13], and chocolate ice cream [14] when compared to populations that prefer milk chocolate. The primary aim of this study was to determine group rejection thresholds for increased content of cocoa powder produced from under-fermented cocoa beans (and therefore increased cocoa flavanol content) in a semisweet chocolate-type confection, and to compare rejection thresholds when participants were grouped based on their self-reported preference for milk chocolate or dark chocolate.…”