Suitability of Single‐compression and Tpa Tests to Determine Adhesiveness in Solid and Semi‐solid Foods

Single compression tests were applied to carrageenan plus locust bean gum model gels (1:1) without sucrose and with 40% added sucrose, and two commercial samples of quince jelly containing high levels of sucrose (55 and 72 °Brix). The samples were glued to the main platform of the texturometer. The tests were performed up to two different levels of compression. Negative area (Aadh), the time that the samples remained adhering to the probe (tadh), and maximum negative force (Fmax) during the decompression stroke were determined. All the parameter values for the commercial samples were greater than those for the model systems. Aadh and Fmax were good indices of adhesiveness. The highest discriminative capacity in detecting sucrose levels of these two parameters was obtained at a low degree of compression; this could be because the samples had not suffered damage to their internal structure. Since the samples had high instantaneous recoverable springiness, the application of automated TPA proved inappropriate for obtaining a measurement of adhesiveness.