Optimization of an Instrumental Method for the Evaluation of Spreadability

Instrumental evaluation of hardness and spreadability has been carried out by a penetration method, using two different angled cones (45° and 90°), and by the Pompei Spreadability Cell (PSC) which is an imitative method. The results obtained with these methods on water‐bentonite mixtures at different concentrations were correlated with sensory evaluation of hardness and spreadability. Both instrumental methods are significantly correlated with hardness scores. Panel responses for spreadability are not correlated with stress and energy values obtained by cone penetration while they are significantly correlated with PSC readings when the ratios between energies, evaluated at two displacement speeds (450 and 100 mm/min), are considered.