Food and Wine Pairing : A Sensory Experience

114 Chapter 5 The Impact of Sweetness and Acidity Levels in Wine and Food

6.In this exercise there are six whites (and / or six reds). Based on your analysis of each wine, rank the wines by level of sweetness
from driest to sweetest.
Driest"1. 2. 3.

4. 
   
   
   
   5. 
      
      
      
      6. "Sweetest
         Observations:
         Retain the wine and setup for Exercise 5.3.
      
      
      
      
   
   
   
   

EXERCISE 5.2

RANKING SWEETNESS LEVELS IN FOOD

This exercise is designed to establish
baseline measures of sweetness levels in
food items. The foods used—from the
Food Sensory Anchor Scale (Figure
B.1)—are standardized items that can be
purchased already prepared. These will
provide consistent baseline measures of
sweetness that will serve as points of ref-
erence in future tasting evaluations. How-
ever, as with the wine samples, your

perception of sweetness in these food

items may vary.

OBJECTIVE

The primary objective of this exercise is

to establish baseline sweetness levels in

food products.

Mise en Place: Things to Do Be-

fore the ExercisePrior to evaluation,

become familiar with the numerical ex-

amples shown in the Food Sensory An-

chor Scale. Keep this scale at your side

as a reference during the evaluation

process. While this exercise focuses on

sweetness, don’t miss this opportunity to

do an informal evaluation of the other el-

ements in each food sample (fattiness,

saltiness, flavor intensity, etc.).

MATERIALSNEEDED

Table 5.6 Materials for Exercise 5.2

Prepackaged food items: Triscuits, Wheat Thins, graham crackers,

Pepperidge Farms Bordeaux cookies

Napkins

1 copy Food Sensory Anchor References sheet per student Drinking water for each student

1 food sweetness evaluation sheet per student Glasses for water

Utensils for food items Paper plates/bowls to serve items

STEPS

1.Purchase the food items and place a portion of each on a plate for each taster.

2.Taste the food items and rank them on the 0–10 scale. Focus on identifying the differences in sweetness level. Do the differences
you perceive match those in Table 5.1? Is it difficult to determine differences in sweetness level? Record your observations on
the Food Sweetness Level Sheet (Figure 5.2).