How to Describe Texture

What follows is a schematic overview of the various expressions used to describe texture and mouthfeel based on Alina Surmacka Szczesniak’s classification of texture. The table on the left illustrates the relationship between the physical and the sensory aspects of texture classification. With the help of examples, we will later describe how we determine the different properties of texture, as well as how we can enhance them and possibly alter them. The classification of the descriptions of texture is made more difficult by the fact that they often depend on whether they apply to a solid/semisolid or a liquid food. And as the borders between these phases are often blurred, these expressions may have more than one meaning.