Crispness, the Key for the Palatability of "Kakinotane": A Sensory Study with Onomatopoeic Words.

Crispness is among the most important food textures that contribute significantly to palatability. This study investigated the association between the perceived crispness and palatability of five types of Japanese rice crackers known as "kakinotane." Two experiments were conducted using the temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) and temporal drivers of liking (TDL) methods.

Age-related changes in functional adaptation to bolus characteristics during chewing.

We investigated how the physical properties of food affect chewing kinematics, and examined the effects of aging on behavior. Twenty young and 21 older volunteers were asked to freely chew rice crackers and spit the food out at their average chewing duration. We compared chewing characteristics among the conditions (age × rice cracker), and examined the area of rectified masseter and suprahyoid electromyographic bursts per chewing cycle.

Effects of rheological properties of rice dough during manufacture of rice cracker on the quality of the end product.

Influence of the viscoelastic properties of rice dough on the mechanical properties and the microstructure of rice crackers was experimentally investigated to predict and control the quality of the rice cracker in the early stage of the lengthy manufacturing process. Various rice doughs steamed for 5, 30, or 60 min and kneaded for 5, 10, or 15 min were examined. Longer steaming and kneading resulted in lower G' and G″ and higher tan δ, specific volume of the rice crackers, decreased nonuniform and deficient network, and thinner cell wall in rice cracker sections.