Texture studies on mushrooms

Measurement of texture is a useful quality control test for mushrooms. Results of these studies suggest that texture differences in mushrooms may be divided into primary and secondary differences. the former refer to differences caused largely by variation in the dry matter content of mushrooms, the latter to differences caused by variation in the nature of the dry matter content. The shear press was used for measuring mushroom texture. Shearing mushrooms previously sliced with a household egg slicer gave more accurate results than shearing whole individual mushrooms. the relative precision of the shearing operation was the same for different weights of sample but increasing slice size had a slight positive effect on the shear press reading. Taste panels were capable of detecting texture differences in cooked mushrooms which were also detected by the shear press.