Journal of Food Engineering 52 (2002) 9598

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Determination of rheological properties of boza by using

physical and sensory analysis
Mahmut Genc
b

a,*

, Murat Zorba b, G
ulden Ova

a
Unilever Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S ., P.K. 41, 59870 C
g, Turkey
orlu-Tekirda
Department of Food Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Ege University, 35100 Bornova-Izmir, Turkey

Received 16 June 2000; received in revised form 2 April 2001; accepted 24 April 2001

Abstract
Boza, a highly viscous traditional fermented Turkish beverage, is usually made from cereals (maize, rice, wheat and/or their
ours) and its rheological property is crucial to its acceptability. Psychorheology of laboratory boza samples were studied and
relevant rheological parameters were obtained by using the power-law equation. The boza exhibited pseudoplastic behaviour and a
relationship with the dry matter (DM) content of the type, K 9  1019 DM%13:348 at 10C was obtained for the laboratory
sample. Both mouthfeel M and appearance A characteristics of the boza also exhibited a loglog relationship with the uid
consistency coecient (K) that was M 1:399  K 0:442 and A 1:673  K 0:383 , respectively. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.
Keywords: Rheology; Sensory evaluation; Psychorheology; Boza

1. Introduction
Information on the relationship between physicochemical and sensory properties of foods is limited
(Karel, 1996) in spite of the importance of such information in assessing food quality. While physicochemical properties can be measured objectively,
sensory methods are generally subjective. However,
Bourne (1982) observed that sensory tests could also
be as reproducible and precise as objective measurements. Rheological characteristics are notable physical
properties and generally foods are classied as Newtonian or non-Newtonian depending on the relationship between shear stress and shear rate (rheological
response). Rheology has many applications in the eld
of food acceptability, food processing, and handling,
and the relationship between consumer preferences
and rheological properties of foods (psychorheology)
is a key part of the science of rheology (Bourne,
1982).
Boza is a highly viscous fermented Turkish beverage,
made from cereals such as maize, rice, wheat and their
ours and it is usually consumed in winter, but its

Corresponding author. Fax: +90-232-342-7592.

E-mail address: mahmut.genc@unilever.com (M. Genc).

production is still a traditional family art. Dierent raw

materials at varying concentrations and dierent fermentation processes are normally used in boza production and consequently, its quality can vary a lot across
(Zorba et al., 1999). However, there is a growing interest
in producing boza on a large scale and this demands
proper characterisation of the product. Some studies
(Hancioglu & Karapinar, 1997; Yazicioglu & Topal,
1985; Zorba et al., 1999) have been conducted but psychorheological investigations have not received adequate attention. Hence, the objectives of this research
were to obtain rheological parameters of boza, evaluate
its sensory properties and deduce its psychorheological
characteristics.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Traditionally prepared boza samples were purchased
from local markets in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir in
Turkey. Boza samples were also prepared under laboratory conditions with sugar, and the ours of maize,
rice, and wheat using a traditional recipe (Zorba et al.,
1999); the raw materials were obtained from local
markets in Izmir.

0260-8774/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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M. Genc et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 52 (2002) 9598

2.2. Methods
Preparation of Boza worth. Laboratory-type boza
samples were prepared according to the method of Zorba
et al. (1999) with modications. In this method, boza was
prepared by using maize, wheat and rice ours mixed in
the ratio of 2:1:1, respectively. 1 l of water was added to
the mixture. The mixture was then homogenized and
boiled. After boiling for about 20 min with continuous
stirring, the mixture was allowed to cool and diluted with
water, and 20% (w/w) sucrose was added. In this study a
starter culture was not used for inoculation, but samples
were inoculated using the market sample. The moisture
content of the boza was also varied because of the different dry matter contents (DM) (2328%) obtained. This
range was selected to match the dry matter content range
of traditional boza samples obtained from local markets.
Analytical methods. The moisture content was determined according to the procedures in AOAC (1995).
Viscosity measurements. A Brookeld RVT-model
viscometer (Brookeld Engineering Laboratories, USA)
was used for torque measurements (Heldman, Singh,
Evranuz, & Cataltas, 1989; Ranganna, 1995) to obtain
the rheological parameters of boza at a constant temperature of 10  1C. Homogenous boza was prepared
by homogenizing with a blender so that there were no
lumps in the sample that could aect the viscosity
measurements. All the measurements were made with
three spindles (Nos. 3, 4, and 5) at eight spindle speeds
(0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 rpm).
Sensory evaluation. Sensory evaluation (mouthfeel and
appearance) was done with nine trained panelists by using
ve-point scoring test in which 5 indicates extreme likeness and 1 for extreme dislike (Kramer & Twigg, 1984);
samples were presented to the panelists at 10  1C.

where lapp is the apparent viscosity (Pa s), n the ow

behaviour index (dimensionless), c_ the shear rate (s1 ),
and K is the uid consistency coecient (Pa sn ).
Applying Eq. (1), the rheological parameters for the
boza samples are shown in Table 1, which also contains
sensory scores for mouthfeel and appearance for the
samples.
As shown in Table 1, ow behaviour index for boza
samples is between 0 and 1, and in the absence of substantial change (CV 0:596) in viscosity with respect to
time, the boza behaved as a pseudoplastic material
(Ranganna, 1995).
Fig. 2 shows the relationship between the dry matter
(solid) content and the rheological parameters for the
laboratory-prepared boza. There was no clear trend for
the market samples (not shown) possibly because of
variations in the ingredients and their proportions.
Starches dier in their physicochemical characteristics
and additives such as sugars aect gelatinisation, for
example, dierently (Heckman, 1977). Because of the
absence of detailed information on the market products,
further analysis is dicult on the obtained parameters.
However, with the laboratory samples, ow behaviour
index decreased (Eq. (2)) and consistency coecient
increased (Eq. (3)) with increasing dry matter content.
Generally, the ow behaviour index is nearly independent of the total solid content and temperature, unlike
the consistency index (Ilicali, 1985). However, if physicochemical changes (such as gelatinisation) occurs in a
sample, the ow behaviour index can vary (Sopade &
Filibus, 1995). It appears that this could have been the
case with the boza although the eect of temperature was
not investigated in the present study.
n 52:726  DM%1:5723 r2 0:824:
K 9  10

19

13:348

 DM%

r 0:921:

2
3

3. Results and discussion

The Brookeld viscometer has been used successfully
in measuring the consistency of non-Newtonian uids.
The empirical data for boza samples obtained from the
Brookeld viscometer were converted into viscosity
functions (apparent viscosity and shear rate) (Heldman
et al., 1989; Ranganna, 1995). When the apparent
viscosity and the shear rate were plotted (Fig. 1), it was
observed that the apparent viscosity decreased with an
increase in the rate of shear. This shows non-Newtonian
uid (shear thinning or pseudoplastic) behaviour
(Geankoplis, 1983; Ranganna, 1995).
Rheological behaviour can be described using the
power-law model (Eq. 1) as well as other models, which
are discussed elsewhere (Heldman et al., 1989).
 n1
lapp K  c_
;

Fig. 1. The relationship between apparent viscosity and shear rate for
boza.

M. Genc et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 52 (2002) 9598

97

Table 1
Rheological parameters and average sensory scores for boza samples
Flow behaviour
index (n)

Fluid consistency
coecient K (Pa sn )

R2

Appearance

Mouthfeel

Market
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

0.321
0.361
0.390
0.393
0.267
0.313
0.339
0.502

9.565
3.742
4.943
6.870
21.467
9.453
7.631
3.125

0.997
0.996
0.997
0.995
0.995
0.998
0.994
0.996

3.38
3.17
3.11
3.38
4.88
4.17
3.44
3.08

3.44
1.83
3.78
3.63
4.38
4.33
3.25
2.33

Laboratory
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

0.4481
0.3554
0.3400
0.3364
0.3380
0.3326
0.3133
0.3053

0.830
1.304
2.608
2.188
4.853
3.069
11.066
11.617

0.993
0.997
0.995
0.997
0.996
0.996
0.995
0.996

1.38
1.78
2.33
2.11
3.56
2.67
4.63
4.17

1.25
1.67
2.06
1.67
3.5
2.33
4.44
4.11

Boza samples

The sensory scores for mouthfeel and appearance of

the boza are as in Table 1. Samples that were scored high
in appearance were equally judged to feel good in the
mouth.
Acceptability scaling is important in sensory testing
methodology to determine how much a person likes the
food (Bourne, 1982). In this study, acceptability scaling
was used to explain the relationship between consistency
coecient and the sensory scores for mouthfeel and the
appearance of boza given on Table 1. Both mouthfeel
(M) and appearance (A) characteristics of the boza have
a loglog relationship known as the Power model
(Bourne, 1982; Stone & Sidel, 1985) with the consistency
coecient (K) (Eqs. (4) and (5)):
M 1:399  K 0:442 r2 0:858;

0:383

A 1:673  K

r 0:917:

The numerical value of the exponent in the power

model is described as an index of the degree of compression or extension of the physical scale by the senses
(Bourne, 1982). Exponent values for the sensory characteristics of boza as shown on Eqs. (4) and (5) were all
below one. This indicates that there is compression of
the consistency coecient on both mouthfeel and appearance characteristics of the boza.

4. Conclusion

Fig. 2. The relationship between the dry matter content and the
viscometric parameters for the laboratory boza.

This study rstly showed that the boza exhibited

pseudoplastic behaviour and there was a correlation between viscometric constants and dry matter content of
laboratory-prepared boza samples. Secondly, it is sug-

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M. Genc et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 52 (2002) 9598

gested that the consistency coecient of boza can be used

with condence as a predictor of sensory scores of
mouthfeel and appearance. In further studies it is planned
to determine the activation energy for ow to examine the
dependence of the consistency coecient of boza on
temperature, and also nd out relationships between
other objective measurements such as pH, acidity and
other sensory characteristics such as avour.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Coskan
Ilicali for his interest in the work, Dr. Kemal Demirag
for his technical ideas, Sami Yurduseven and Burak
Ereno
glu for their technical assistance during this study.
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