Effects of Visual Cues on Consumer Expectation, Emotion and Wellness Responses, and Purchase Intent of Red Chili Powders

Novel Liquor-Based Hot Sauce: Physicochemical Attributes, Volatile Compounds, Sensory Evaluation, Consumer Perception, Emotions, and Purchase Intent

Hot sauces are popular peppery condiments used to add flavor and sensory excitement to gastronomical preparations. While hot sauce occupies a retail category well over a century old, a novel production method using liquor as the base preservative rather than traditional vinegar is now commercially available, and its uniqueness begs study. Hot sauces produced with tequila, rum, vodka, and bourbon were compared to traditional vinegar-based hot sauces concerning physicochemical properties, volatile compounds, microbiological quality, sensory scores, emotions, and purchase intent (PI). Under accelerated conditions, pH, titratable acidity (TA), water activity (Aw), viscosity, and color were analyzed weekly for 20 weeks, whereas rheological properties, coliforms and yeasts and molds were examined on weeks 1 and 20. Hexyl n-valerate, butanoic acid, 3-methyl-, hexyl ester, and 4-methylpentyl 3-methylbutanoate were found in high concentrations in the pepper mix as well as the hot sauce produced with vinegar. When compared to vinegar-based hot sauces, liquor-based hot sauces had similar Aw (p > 0.05), higher pH, viscosity, and L* values and lower TA, a*, and b* values (p < 0.05). Samples formulated with liquors increased the relaxation exponent derived from G’ values having a greater paste formation when compared to vinegar-based hot sauces. The sensory evaluation was carried out in Honduras. The liquor-based hot sauces had a significant (p < 0.05) impact on emotion and wellness terms. Bourbon and tequila samples had higher ratings than control samples in several wellness and emotion responses (active, energetic, enthusiastic, good, curious, pleased, stimulated, and wild). Adventurous, joyful, free, worried, refreshed, and healthy scores were not significantly (p > 0.05) different among treatments.

Role of Visual Assessment of High-Quality Cakes in Emotional Response of Consumers

Thinking of the present gastronomic trends is inevitable when talking about innovation in haute pastry. Launching a successful product that meets consumers’ high expectations despite the rising demand for new creations is increasingly complex. For this reason, sensory analysis studies are more and more interested in studying the emotional response evoked by these products to better understand and improve user experiences. The main goal of this work was to conduct a study to analyze the emotional arousal of consumers after the visualization of five haute patisserie cakes. An online questionnaire with the EsSense Profile^® scale and CATA methodology were used for data collection. The EsSense Profile^® is a predefined and validated scale that measures food-related emotions, which includes 39 terms. When analyzing the emotions expressed by all the participants, 22 were statistically significant, of which 14 were classified as positive, 6 as neutral, and only 2 were negative. By analyzing the responses by gender, we observed differences in the number of elicited emotional terms: females showed significant differences between cakes for 18 emotion terms compared to 8 terms for males. The results obtained support the importance of the emotional profile to understand consumers’ expectations and behavior.

Emotion and Wellness Profiles of Herbal Drinks Measured Using Different Questionnaire Designs

The emotion and wellness profiles of herbal drinks were assessed using six different questionnaire designs. The questionnaire designs were constructed from two formats of questionnaire items, including words and sentences, and three types of measuring scales, including a rating scale (5-point intensity; 1 = ‘not at all’, 5 = ‘extremely’), a checklist scale (check-all-that-apply, CATA), and a combination of CATA and rating scales (rate-all-that-apply, RATA; 5-point intensity; 1 = ‘slightly’, 5 = ‘extremely’). The 39 emotional terms of the EsSense Profile^® and the 45 wellness terms of the WellSense Profile^TM were translated into Thai, then screened for relevance to herbal drinks. The seven positive emotional terms (active, energetic, good, happy, polite, satisfied, and warm), three negative emotional terms (bored, disgusted, and worried), and five wellness terms (comforted, healthy, invigorated, relaxed, and refreshed) were selected and included in the questionnaire. A central location test was performed to determine the emotion and wellness profiles of five herbal drinks: roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) drink, chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat) drink, ginger (Zingiber officinale) drink, Jubliang (a mixture of eight herbs) drink, and Krachai Dam (Kaempferia parviflora) drink. For herbal drinks, measuring emotion and wellness with a questionnaire using full sentences did not show increased benefit over questionnaires using words alone. All three measuring methods—a rating scale, CATA, and RATA—produced similar emotion and wellness profiles. However, each method has different advantages and limitations, which researchers should carefully consider.

Color-Induced Aroma Illusion: Color Cues Can Modulate Consumer Perception, Acceptance, and Emotional Responses toward Cooked Rice

Since rice is often cooked in many countries with different types of ingredients or seasonings, the surface colors of traditional rice meal items vary across cultural backgrounds. This study aimed to determine whether consumer perception, acceptance, willingness to eat, and emotional responses toward cooked rice samples could differ with their surface color cues. Milled rice was cooked with one of three food colorants: yellow, orange, and green, with milled (white) and un-milled (brown) rice cooked without colorants used as respective test and filler samples. Using a check-all-that-apply method, 98 rice consumers checked all aroma attributes they perceived by sniffing each of the four cooked-rice samples (white, yellow, orange, and green). They also rated the four samples with respect to attribute intensity, liking, emotional responses, and willingness to eat. The results showed that participants associated colored rice with specific ingredient-related aroma attributes (e.g., green color elicited sweet peas or spinach aromas). Color cues also affected ratings of attribute intensity, liking, willingness to eat, and emotional responses to cooked rice samples. In conclusion, this study provides empirical evidence that in the context of cooked rice consumption, color cues can elicit associated aromas and modulate consumer perception, acceptance, and evoked emotions to cooked rice.

Possible Sugar and Calorie Reduction by Visual Cues: A Case of Syrup Added to Brewed Coffee

Visual cues have been reported to influence taste and flavor perceptions. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the impact of visual cues (color and viscosity) of syrups on expected sweetness and bitterness perception (Study I), and on sweetness perception and sweetness liking of brewed coffee after syrup had been added, and the amount of syrups to be added to brewed coffee (Study II). For Study I, the visual stimuli were developed by varying viscosity (80, 800, and 8000 cP) and yellow index (YI) (0.04, 0.08, 0.16, and 0.32), resulting in 12 syrups with 20 degrees Brix. Visual observations indicated greater expected sweetness perceptions of syrups when YI and viscosity were increased. However, YI, but not viscosity, affected expected bitterness perceptions. Increasing YI raised the frequency (%) of "too sweet" perceptions of syrups on a JAR scale. For Study II, only four syrups (LC1, LC2, HC1, HC2; L = viscosity, 80 cP, H = 8,000 cP; C1 = YI 0.04, C2 = YI 0.32) were studied. The visual perception affected consumers' behaviors concerning the amount of syrup added to brewed coffee. Consumers added the greatest volume of syrups with the lowest viscosity and YI (LC1), while the lowest volume of syrups with the highest viscosity and YI (HC2). There were no significant differences in sweetness liking of brewed coffees added with LC1, LC2, and/or HC1 syrups. This study indicated that visual cues could potentially intensify the perceived sweetness of syrups, and reduced the volume of syrup added to brewed coffee and consequently calories consumed. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Sensory visual cues associated with a syrup can be used to reduce the volume consumed and thereby promote reduced consumption of calories while maintaining sensory acceptability. Increasing a syrup's viscosity and yellow/brown color intensity enhanced the expectation of sweetness and resulted in less volume of syrup added to brewed coffee. This research demonstrated that the impact of visual cues not only influenced expectation and sensory acceptability but also impacted the cognitive process of eating. This strategy could provide a way to promote a sustainable reduction in sugar and, hence, calorie consumption without compromising sensory liking.