Flavor! There are many definitions for flavor, but all of them contain a combination of taste and odor influenced by sensations of pain, heat, cold and other tactile sensations. Most people have taste buds. Flavor has a major role in determining the acceptability of foods and beverages. It is a dynamic sense that changes in…
Diving into Flavoured Sparkling Water
As consumers seek out healthier beverage alternatives to soft drinks, they are finding increasingly more options in bottled water including new flavours and new fashionable or ‘greener’ packaging innovations. One exploding segment of the category we recently explored is flavoured sparkling water. The objective of our latest research was to investigate the sensory performance of…
Sensory Analysis: Myths In the Marketplace
Contrary to popular thinking, there is a lot more to sensory analysis than just science. Even though sensory evaluation is a scientific discipline that analyzes and measures human responses to the composition of food and beverages, there are many factors involved in measuring consumer responses. Sensory evaluation can be used to compare similarities or differences…
Why Use Sensory Analysis?
The short answer? Sensory analysis answers very important questions about your products that translate directly to revenue and customer satisfaction. Sensory analysis isn’t based on guesswork. It’s a scientific method designed to take the guesswork out of developing products for consumers. Thinking something to be true and knowing it to be true are two totally…
Sweethearts – America’s Favourite Valentine’s Day Candy
The Origin of Sweethearts While February may be one of the shortest and dreariest months, the upside is that it is also the month to celebrate Valentine’s Day. From young to young at heart, Valentine’s Day provides an excuse to indulge in all those sweet treats associated with love: cinnamon hearts, a box of chocolates,…
Strawberry Banana Smoothies
Powered by the escalating demand for healthy, on-the-go meal solutions, the smoothie category is a very active one. For some, it is the perfect way to get a daily dose of the latest and greatest ‘superfood’, while to others it’s a fast and easy breakfast or lunch solution. Contract Testing recently brought together 50 women…
All You Need is Cheese
NEW SURVEY FINDS CONSUMERS LIKE TO EXPERIMENT WITH FLAVORS AND TEXTURES WHEN IT COMES TO CHEESE PREFERENCES JANUARY 2015 Last week, The Smithsonian celebrated National Cheese Day with a map of cheeses from around the world. The author of the article asks, how can so many varieties of cheese stem from such a simple set…
Boxing Day: A Great Day to Use Up Your Leftover Turkey!
How do you celebrate Boxing Day: Shopping, eating or both? A secular holiday, Boxing Day happens each year on December 26 – the day after Christmas Day. The name “Boxing Day” originates from a time when tradespeople and servants would receive “Christmas Boxes” from their employers as a holiday gift. Boxing Day is also known…