Combining foods with condiments: How bread and potato influence in-vivo aroma release and aroma perception of mayonnaises

The addition of condiments to food is known to affect oral processing behavior, eating rate and acceptance. Although they are a key ingredient in many different culinary traditions, few studies investigated their effects on sensory perception and, in particular, their interaction with carrier foods, which might be crucial to control food acceptance.
The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction/interplay of mayonnaise properties (fat content, viscosity) with carrier properties (hardness of bread and potatoes) by the simultaneous in-vivo real-time analysis of aroma release and perception. Dynamic perception of lemon intensity (Time-Intensity) and in-vivo aroma release of two lemon aroma compounds (limonene, citral) were assessed by 14 trained subjects in triplicate for three mayonnaises consumed alone and in combination with bread and potato of different hardness.
Both mayonnaise fat content and viscosity influence perception and aroma release. Different dynamic release patterns are observed for limonene and citral due to differences in polarity and volatility. Addition of carrier foods (bread, potato) decreases lemon perception intensity of all mayonnaises while, in some cases, it increases the in-nose concentrations. Harder bread decreases lemon intensity to a larger extent than softer bread, whereas only small effects of potato hardness on lemon intensity were observed. The in-vivo release of limonene and citral also depended on the type of mayonnaise. Results are discussed in view of a combination of different mechanisms, including physicochemical (mayonnaise absorbance by carrier, lipid-amylose complexes, bolus partition coefficients), physiological (chewing time and saliva amount) and cognitive effects (presence of one food distracts attention from others).
Both dynamic perception and in vivo aroma release of condiments are affected by condiment properties in a complex interplay with carrier food type and properties. The proposed in-vivo methods allow the dissecting of their complex interaction also in the case of real food.