Glossary of flavor terms

After-taste	A taste sensation that persists when the product is no longer present in the mouth.
Antagonism	Combined action of two or more stimuli. In combination, they elicit a response lower than that expected from adding each stimulus together.
Aroma	A pleasant odor.
Assessor	Any person who takes part in a sensory test.
Astringency	A sensation of dryness and/or puckering of the lining of the mouth.
Attribute	A characteristic perceived by one or more of the senses.
Bias	Consistently positive or negative error.
Category scaling	A method of scaling in which the intensity of a stimulus is allocated to one of a series of predetermined categories.
Descriptive analysis	The use of descriptive terms to evaluate and scale sensory attributes of a sample.
Detection threshold	The minimum amount of a substance that gives rise to a sensation.
Difference threshold	Smallest concentration of a substance needed to bring about a detectable difference.
Discrimination	The act of discriminating, qualitatively and/or quantitatively between stimuli.
Expert	A person with considerable expertise and proven ability in sensory assessment of a given product under a given set of conditions.
Flavor	The combination of olfactory and gustatory attributes perceived during tasting.
Gustatory	Relating to the sense of taste.
Hedonic	Relating to like or dislike.
Intensity	The magnitude of a perceived sensation.
Masking	Decrease of the intensity or change in the quality of the perception of one stimulus by the simultaneous action of another.
Note	A distinctive and identifiable feature of an odor or flavor .
Objective	Relating to a sensory test in which bias is minimized.
Odor	The sensation perceived by the use of theolfactory organ.
Olfactory	Relating to the sense of smell.
Panel	A group of assessors who participate in sensory tests.
Perception	Awareness of the effects of single or multiple sensory stimuli .
Preference	An assessment in terms of relative acceptability, ie like / dislike.
Ranking test	A classification test in which a series of samples is placed in order of intensity of one specified sensory criterion. The process makes no attempt to rate the magnitude of the differences.
Recognition threshold	The smallest concentration of a substance that allows an assessor to identify it.
Reference	A control used to define a specified level of a given attribute.
Screening	A preliminary selection procedure.
Sensory analysis	Systematic evaluation of the sensory attributes of a product carried out by assessors.
Sensory fatique	Form of sensory adaptation in which a decrease in sensitivity occurs.
Subjective	Relating to a sensory test in which bias is minimized.
Stimulus	That which excites the receptors of a sense organ.
Stimulus threshold	The lowest physical intensity at which a stimulus is detectable.
Synergism	Joint action of two or more stimuli, whose combination brings about a sensation, the intensity of which is in excess of that expected from simple addition of the effects of each stimulus.
Taste	Sensory attribute that results from chemical stimulation of the gustatory receptors in the oral cavity.