Psychophysical Relationships Between Perceived Sweetness and Color in Cherry-Flavored Beverages

Sweetness of cherry-flavored and colored beverages, containing 3.2 to 4.8% sucrose, was quantified by a panel of 10 men and women, ages 22-50, using magnitude estimation. Five intensities of cherry colors were formulated using increasing volumes of Red 40 and a constant volume of both Blue 1 and imitation cherry flavoring. Color measurements from the Gardner XL-23 Colorimeter and the G. E. Recording Spectrophotometer were converted to L*, a* and b*. Sweetness was evaluated against sucrose concentration and arctan (a*/b*). Magnitude tests to evaluate color acceptability and pleasantness were also conducted. All magnitude estimates were normalized and subjected to a two-way ANOVA. Sweetness perception was highly correlated with increasing sucrose concentration (r²> .90), producing a power function exponent of 1.98. Sweetness increased approximately 3 to 13% with increasing color intensity in solutions containing 3.96 to 4.4% sucrose. The exponent describing the sweetness-color relationship was less than 1.0, and followed the power law over a narrow range of color intensities. Color 4 was the most acceptable color and color 3 containing 4.6% sucrose had the most pleasant taste. Color might be used to replace some sucrose and can optimize pleasurable taste sensations.