Definition of unctuousness concept in dairy product

C. Tournier (1)*, C. Martin (1), D. Valentin (2), S. Issanchou (1), E. Guichard (1) and C. Sulmont-Rossé (1)

(1) UMR FLAVIC, INRA, France; 

(2) UMR CSG 5071, France

 carole.tournierdijon.inra.fr

The word “onctueux” (unctuous), which is commonly used in France to describe various foods, is supposed to be an indicator of food quality. Nevertheless neither dictionaries nor norms give a clear definition of this word. The aim of our study was to investigate the unctuousness concept in dairy products by both  sensory and  linguistic approaches.

The sensory approach consisted in asking 85 consumers to taste and rate their liking of 12 dairy products (yoghurt, soft white cheese, cream dessert…) in a first session and the unctuousness in a second session. Concurrently, 14 trained panellists achieved the sensory profile of those products. A cluster analysis carried on unctuousness scores revealed three clusters of respectively 22, 16 and 41 consumers. For each cluster, a multiple regression analysis was performed to predict unctuousness ratings on profile results, for each cluster. Unctuousness scores were mainly explained by the attribute homogeneity for cluster 1, the attribute fatty for cluster 2 and the attribute sweet for cluster 3. Moreover unctuousness ratings were correlated with hedonic ratings for this last cluster.

The linguistic approach consisted in asking the same 85 consumers to write down their own definition of unctuousness. On the whole, an analysis of citation frequencies showed that unctuousness was defined by textural and hedonic words, and associated with the word “doux” (soft). Specifically, unctuousness was associated with cream by cluster 1, with an absence of sour and bitter taste by cluster 2 and with sweetness by cluster 3.

To conclude, both sensory and linguistic approaches highlighted three different concepts of unctuousness among consumers: a textural concept, a fatty / neutral flavour concept, and a sweet concept. However, it should be noted that the fatty dimension in cluster 2 was not revealed in linguistic data, as speech may be modulated by social conventions.

Key words: unctuousness, consumers, sensory, linguistic