TORTILLA BENDING TECHNIQUE - AN OBJECTIVE METHOD FOR CORN TORTILLA TEXTURE MEASUREMENT

An objective bending technique was developed to measure corn tortilla texture. During the test, tortilla strips were bent to a 40 degrees an gle. The bending technique detected differences in uniformity, thickne ss, and puffing. Thick tortillas required more force to bend and had g reater moduli of deformation values than thin tortillas. The bending t echnique detected changes in tortilla texture during storage and textu ral differences among commercial corn tortillas purchased at supermark ets. Experimental error of the method was low for both commercial and laboratory-prepared tortillas. Parameters measured by the bending tech nique were significantly correlated with subjective rollability and fl exibility test scores. The bending technique was sensitive to sample c haracteristics, fast, simple, repeatable, and provided information reg arding the relationship between force (stress) and distance, which cou ld be used to determine the linear region of viscoelastic materials.