Articles techniques et présentations

Chocolate is a pleasurable product largely consumed over the world. It is known that ingredients, process and particle size distribution largely impact the chocolate sensory perceptions. It was hypothesized that a suitable choice of chocolate size and geometry modifies in-mouth melting and aroma release and modulates flavour and oral texture perception. Since in-vivo experiments on chocolate melting in mouth appear at the limit of feasibility a numerical (computer based) modeling approach has been chosen. A conductive heat transfer simulation was made to provide the identification of the major parameters of in-mouth heat transfer and of the in-mouth melting profiles of different chocolate designs, where melting is considered as pre-requisite for release of taste and aroma compounds.