CELLULARITY, MECHANICAL FAILURE, AND TEXTURAL PERCEPTION OF CORN MEAL EXTRUDATES

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Abstract
Relationships among cellular structure, fracturability, and sensory properties in porous, brittle extrudates were investigated. Corn‐based extrudates intentionally processed to exhibit a range of physical structures were characterized in terms of cell size distribution, bulk density, mechanical strength, fracturability, and sensory attributes. These measurements show both mechanical strength, defined by average compressive stress during extended deformation, and fracturability, quantified by fractal and Fourier analyses of stress‐strain functions, increasing with either decreasing mean cell size or increasing bulk density. Fracturability parameters or structural characteristics are furthermore correlated with sensory scores for crunchiness, crispness, hardness and perceived density. These results indicate that cellularity strongly influences the pattern of mechanical failure and that failure characteristics, such as fractal dimension or power spectrum of stress‐strain functions, are reflective of sensory texture.