Meaning of Texture Words to the Consumer

A word association test administered to 102 respondents indicated that the consumer understands the qualitative meaning of texture words in the same manner as people experienced in texture evaluation. A few words such as thin, thick, dry, smooth, hard, etc. were found to have additional meanings related to characteristics other than texture. The responses were used to compile a tabulation of foods having specific recognizable textural characteristics. This tabulation should be useful in explaining the meaning of texture words to people unfamiliar with the nomenclature or in situations where a language barrier exists.