Flavor lexicon
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Flavor lexicons (American English) or flavour lexicons (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) are used by professional taste testers to develop and detail the sensory perception experienced from food. The lexicon is a word bank developed by professional taste testers in order to identify an objective, nuanced and cross-cultural word bank for food.[1]
Flavor is the sensory impression of food or other substances and is determined primarily by the chemical senses of taste and smell. Flavor is said to be 80 percent aroma, detected primarily through the retronasal smell mechanism. Sight, sound, and touch also impact flavor. The color of a food, sound as one bites into it, and texture are all factors that contribute to a person's perception of food. In addition, culture provides a context to food. All these experiences put together can affect a person's description of the food item.
Flavor lexicons seek to provide an objective word bank for food. This streamlines the variations created by the different language ascribed to food.
The development of flavor language allows tasters to pinpoint descriptions about the food they taste. There are three major descriptive analysis techniques used by professional taste testers: Flavor Profile Method (FPM); Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA); and the Spectrum method.[1]
Taste testing
In developing a flavor lexicon, the tongue is a taster's instrument. A taster is trained to remain objective.
The first documented descriptive analysis technique, FPM, was first implemented in the 1950s. The structure of FPM is also the simplest of the three fewer panelists are employed with a minimum of four. Following a 60-hour training session, panel members work together to develop a consensus profile of the taste properties and their intensities on a four-point scale.
QDA features a sensory professional leading 8 to 12 prescreened individuals who make up the panel. The professional orders the evaluation of each descriptor. His or her panel defines the scales by judging the attributes. The significance of their findings is analyzed through statistical tests.
While panel sizes for the Spectrum Method are similar to that of QDA, tasters for the Spectrum Method require more screening for cognitive, descriptive, and sensory discrimination screening ability, interest, and availability.[1]