Multiple physical patterns in judgements of the creamy texture of milks and creams

The textural sensation generated by dairy creams and milks in the mouth was hypothesized to arise from mechanoreceptor stimulation by the viscosity of these oil-in-water emulsions and features arising from characteristics of the globules of fat. The viscosity, range of sizes of the fat globules and the average distance between globules were varied independently in dairy emulsions and samples rated for creaminess by six assessors. In this brief report, each assessor's performance is tested for multidimensional combinations of discriminations among viscosities, globule-size ranges and interglobule distances. Those individuals whose judgements of creaminess were sensitive to these physical variables appeared to differ greatly in the factors on which they based their judgements. This also depended on whether a high-fat milk or a light cream was used as the standard for comparison. Subject to confirmation of the stability of the discrimination space for an individual using a standard, it is preliminarily concluded that recognition of the physical properties of fat in dairy emulsions is highly idiosyncratic, perhaps indicating that it has to be learned.