QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Teacher Education

Bachelor of Technology and Livelihood Education
…promoting pedagogical excellence
Name of Student: Year/Section:

Week Date:
No. HETLE 104 – FOOD AND NUTRITION

Topic Title

SENSORY SCIENCE

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, the learner can:
1. Demonstrate broad and coherent, meaningful knowledge and skills in technology and
livelihood education.
2. Apply with minimal supervision specialized knowledge and skills in any of the specific
fields in technical teacher education
3. Demonstrate higher level literacy, communication, numeracy, critical thinking,
learning skills needed for higher learning.
4. Manifest a deep and principled understanding of the learning processes and the role
of the teacher in facilitating these processes in their students
5. Show a deep and principled understanding of how educational processes relate to
larger historical, social, cultural, and political processes.
6. Apply a wide range of teaching process skills (including curriculum development,
lesson planning, materials development, educational assessment, and teaching
approaches)
7. Reflect on the relationships among the teaching process skills, the learning processing
in the students, the nature of the content/subject matter, and other factors affecting
educational processes in order to constantly improve their teaching knowledge, skills
and practices.

Keywords

1. Sensory Science
2. Senses

Suggested/Assigned Reading/s

Basic Foods (NDAP Foundation 5th Edition)

Foods and Food Service system 1 (CHNI)
Contents

INFORMATION SHEET

Sensory science

➢ is a cross-disciplinary field of study that addresses how our five senses (hearing, sight,
sound, taste and touch) function—from stimulation and perception to cognition and
behavior. Sensory science integrates research in quality perception, preferences,
communication, and health and well-being to gain insights in the underlying factors
of food choices and eating behaviors. It explores how our senses can be used in food
quality control and product design.
Five (5) Senses

Developed by: QUIRINO STATE College of Teacher

BTLED FOOD AND NUTRITION

GEROME B. TAGUIAM, MSPH, RND
UNIVERSITY
10/10/21
Education

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 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education
Bachelor of Technology and Livelihood Education
…promoting pedagogical excellence
➢ The sensory organs that process the sights, smells, sounds, tastes and textures of
foods help to determine whether a food is perceived as good or bad, tasty or offensive,
and nutritious or unhealthy. These organs are connected by an intricate network
throughout the central nervous system to the brain, where they are translated and
interpreted—and often acted upon.
➢ The sense of sight translates visual messages about the foods on the plate or in a
meal.
➢ The sense of smell transfers aromas from foods that are cooked or served.
➢ The sense of taste registers tastes throughout the entire mouth, not just on the
tongue.
➢ The sense of touch identifies foods by their texture when held and inside the entire
oral cavity.
➢ The sense of sound recognizes the noises that foods make when they are cooked or
consumed. These five senses are elaborately linked to one another and to the brain
for perception, identification and action.
Five (5) Basic Tastes

➢ There are five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (Japanese for
“deliciousness”). In contrast, there are literally thousands of odors because there are
so many combinations, and they are too numerous to test.
➢ These five basic tastes correlate with primitive times.
o The sweet taste was instinctive for survival: the sign of calories to come from
hunting or foraging for food.
o The salty taste drove food choices that replaced what was naturally lost in
sweat.
o The sour taste suggested patience until a food turned riper and sweeter.
o The bitter taste warned that a food might be poisonous.
o The umami taste indicated that a food contained protein, which is fundamental
for existence.
➢ These five basic tastes have similar correlations today.
o Sweet-tasting foods provide energy;
o salty foods are necessary for fluid balance;
o sour (acidic) foods indicate readiness;
o bitter foods are sometimes detested; and
o foods with umami are primary to most Western diets.
➢ The sweet taste is found in fruits and vegetables, but it is also found in protein foods,
such as milk with the milk sugar lactose and glycogen—stored carbohydrate that is
found in muscle tissue.
➢ The salty taste is naturally present in some fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes
and deep leafy green vegetables, and protein foods, such as dairy products. Many
salty ingredients are manmade and developed for preservation.
➢ The sour taste is principally found in fruits and vegetables, such as citrus fruits and
green apples, but it is also found in naturally sour dairy products, such as yogurt or
cultured buttermilk.
➢ The bitter taste is prominent in cruciferous vegetables—those that bear a cross at the
root, such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. It is also pronounced in
coffee, tea and wine.
➢ The umami taste is identifiable in aged cheese, fermented soy foods, savory steaks,
seafood, mushrooms and tomato products. The umami taste can be boosted from

Developed by: QUIRINO STATE College of Teacher

BTLED FOOD AND NUTRITION

GEROME B. TAGUIAM, MSPH, RND
UNIVERSITY
10/10/21
Education

Page 2 of 6
 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education
Bachelor of Technology and Livelihood Education
…promoting pedagogical excellence
flavour layering or synergy among ingredients, such as a Caesar salad with anchovies
and Parmesan cheese or a roasted tomato sauce with porcini mushrooms.
➢ Food scientists, chefs and nutritionists use these basic tastes to create delicious,
harmonious and memorable flavors in product development, recipes and meals.
➢ Examples of foods that carry each of these basic tastes are shown in the table below.

ANSWER ME NUMBER 8

Enumerate the 5 basic tastes

1. _________________________
2. _________________________
3. _________________________
4. _________________________
5. _________________________

FOOD FLAVOR
➢ The term taste is often used synonymously for the term flavor.
➢ Flavor is the sensation that is created when a substance is taken into the mouth
and stimulates receptors that register smell (olfaction), taste, tactile (touch) and
temperature sensations, among others.

TEXTURE AND MOUTHFEEL

➢ Texture is the appearance, consistency and/or feel of a surface or a substance.
➢ Texture also refers to the properties and sensations that are transmitted by the sense
of touch to the brain for interpretation. Texture is a component of food flavor.
o Some common terms that are used to describe texture include bitter, chewy,
creamy, crisp, crispy, crunchy, dry, fatty, firm, greasy, hard, juicy, mushy, oily,
ripe, rough, runny, slippery, smooth, soft, solid, sticky, wet and others.
➢ Mouthfeel is both the chemical and physical reactions of foods and beverages inside
the entire oral cavity. The mouthfeel of foods and beverages is first determined by
their presence inside the mouth, and then by mastication or chewing, mixing with
saliva, moving around the oral cavity by the tongue, and finally by swallowing.
o Some common terms that are used to describe mouthfeel include
adhesiveness, bounce, chewiness, coarseness, coatability, cohesiveness,
denseness, dryness, fracturability (how foods crumble, crack or shatter),

Developed by: QUIRINO STATE College of Teacher

BTLED FOOD AND NUTRITION

GEROME B. TAGUIAM, MSPH, RND
UNIVERSITY
10/10/21
Education

Page 3 of 6
 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education
Bachelor of Technology and Livelihood Education
…promoting pedagogical excellence
graininess, gumminess, hardness, heaviness, moistness, roughness,
slipperiness, smoothness, uniformity, viscosity and others.
➢ In wine tasting, mouthfeel explains the different types of sensations that wines create
within the oral cavity. Descriptors include such terms as big, chewy, sweet or tannic,
similar to descriptors that are used for taste or flavor.
➢ By experimenting with different textures and mouthfeel of foods and beverages, food
scientists, chefs and are able to create and individualize foods, recipes and meals for
a wide range of audiences. This may be of particular significance in designing foods
for children, those with sensory issues and the elderly.

ANSWER ME NUMBER 9

Differentiate texture and mouthfeel?

FLAVOR BALANCING

➢ While there are only five basic tastes, many taste combinations and sensations can
be created with them, just like a painter uses an assortment of basic colors to create
different pigments and variations.
➢ Most foods contain more than one taste, and each taste affects our perception of other
tastes.
o Consider a squeeze of lemon or lime on a ripe tropical fruit, such as guava or
papaya. The acidity brings out the mild sweetness of the fruit. Top it with a few
grains of sea salt and the sweetness is magnified even more.
▪ Another example is smoked salmon with a squeeze of lemon; the salty,
smoky taste becomes more pronounced by the acidity of the lemon.
o Some taste combinations are fundamental to cooking, such as the saltiness
and bitterness of classic salt and pepper.
o Other taste combinations are less obvious; still, they demonstrate the
interaction of food science and nutrition in action. These include foods that
naturally combine the tastes or sensations of sweet and sour, sweet and bitter,
salty and sour, salty and bitter, hot and bitter, and hot and pungent.
▪ For example, in Szechuan hot and sour soup, the savory sourness helps
to stimulate hunger, and in sugared espresso, the sweetened bitterness
helps to satiate hunger.
o There are many more examples in global cuisines that have unknowingly been
paired for centuries. Enhancing and negating tastes by flavor balancing holds
a world of possibilities.
▪ Examples of some taste combinations and sensations with the
condiments, foods, herbs and spices that naturally achieve them are
shown in the table below.

Developed by: QUIRINO STATE College of Teacher

BTLED FOOD AND NUTRITION

GEROME B. TAGUIAM, MSPH, RND
UNIVERSITY
10/10/21
Education

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 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education
Bachelor of Technology and Livelihood Education
…promoting pedagogical excellence
▪ With some experimentation, other harmonious blends can be created.
o Some herb and spice combinations inherently rely on
these taste combinations and sensations with their
naturally acidic, bitter, hot, pungent, salty, spicy, sweet
and savory blends.
o Examples include bouquet garni, with bay, parsley and
thyme; Chinese five-spice powder, with cinnamon,
cloves, fagara, fennel and star anise; fines herbes, with
chervil, chives, parsley and tarragon; gremolata with
anchovies, garlic, lemon zest and parsley; mirepoix, with
celery, carrots and onions; and quatre epics, with cloves,
ginger, nutmeg and pepper.

Table 2.1. Taste Combinations

Figure 2-1 shows how food interplays with our senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and sound
to influence our food choices or rejections, health and well-being. It can be used to
demonstrate the reactions to a hamburger by a carnivore and a vegetarian.

To a carnivore, a hamburger may look delicious, smell and taste great, and have multiple
textures and a variety of sounds (crunchy lettuce, crisp onions and pickles, juicy ground
meat, etc.). To a vegetarian, a hamburger may look, smell, taste, feel and sound unappealing.
When sensorial factors interplay, they create a positive perception of a hamburger to a
carnivore. They increase its desirability and satisfaction.

As a result, a carnivore may prefer a hamburger to other options and select it more
frequently. After a hamburger is consumed, its nutrients may contribute to the health and
wellness of a carnivore—especially if the hamburger meat is lean.

A vegetarian may have totally different sensory reactions to a hamburger. The interplay of
the senses may cause a vegetarian to reject it. Unless a suitable protein replacement is
consumed, then the nutrition, health and well-being of a vegetarian may be compromised.

Developed by: QUIRINO STATE College of Teacher

BTLED FOOD AND NUTRITION

GEROME B. TAGUIAM, MSPH, RND
UNIVERSITY
10/10/21
Education

Page 5 of 6
 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education
Bachelor of Technology and Livelihood Education
…promoting pedagogical excellence

Figure 2-1. Interplay of Senses

Food scientists, chefs and nutritionists use these and other sensory considerations when creating new foods,
recipes and menus. Nature has presented us with great-tasting ingredients: fruits, dairy products, healthy fats,
herbs and spices, meats, nuts and seeds, vegetables and whole-grains for experimentation. But it really is the
nutrients inside these foods—the building blocks of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins and minerals, and
water—that determine how different foods react with one another. Knowing their fascinating roles in food product
development, cooking and baking helps to explain why carbohydrates, lipids, protein and water drive our food
preferences, nutrition and health.

Developed by: QUIRINO STATE College of Teacher

BTLED FOOD AND NUTRITION

GEROME B. TAGUIAM, MSPH, RND
UNIVERSITY
10/10/21
Education

Page 6 of 6