A hearty bowl of vegetable soup with visible chunks of ingredients and a spoon, photographed from above on a woven placemat.

Academic Consortium Publications for June 2025

Today we are celebrating Seung-Hyun Lee, Ji-sun Hwang, and Mina K. Kim for their recent publication investigating kokumi perception in Doenjang jjigae, a Korean fermented soybean paste soup with characteristic gu-soo flavour. Some of the credit for this delicious soup might be due to monosodium glutamate (MSG), an unfairly maligned seasoning ingredient that tends to heighten umami and kokumi sensations. Due to interest in creating wonderful food with reduced sodium, the authors investigated consumer acceptance of recipes replacing MSG with either glycine and disodium succinate. Consumers evaluated liking overall and sensory perceptions using check-all-that-apply questions. Differences between the recipes were apparent for a range of taste-related attributes. The recipe with glycerine was excessively sweet, while the disodium succinate recipe was fishy, astringent, stale, and salty. The recipe with MSG was far better liked and associated with umami, kokumi, gu-soo and other appropriate sensations. These findings show replacing MSG in Doenjang jjigae will not be cakewalk, but will instead the far-more-difficult soupwalk (since how does one walk through soup?). Read more about this delicious soup and other interesting publications from the Compusense Academic Consortium here.

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Can Untrained Consumers Capture Subtle Sensory Differences? A Comparison of CATA, Napping, and Descriptive Analysis for Traditional Korean Doenjang

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Woo-suk Bang, In-Seo Hwang, Mina K. Kim

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Consumer Characterization of Commercial Gluten-Free Crackers Through Rapid Methods and Its Comparison to Descriptive Panel

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Identification of a Novel Pungent Compound in Chili Peppers

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Joel Borcherding, Edisson Tello, Devin G. Peterson

Impact of protein on sensory attributes and liking of plant-based Milk alternatives

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Bharti Sharma, Russell Keast, Djin Gie Liem, Yada Nolvachai, Andrew Costanzo

Influences of Umami Substances on Consumers' Kokumi Perception of Doenjang Soup

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Seung-Hyun Lee, Ji-sun Hwang, Mina K. Kim

Invertase pre-treatment of alkalised sucrose-rich carob pulp augments O-heterocyclic compound generation during roasting

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Christian Schubert, Rahul Sen, Nils Rettberg, Scott Lafontaine

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The thirst-quenching capacity of carbonated thickened drinks

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Understanding Consumer Acceptance and the Association Between Sensory Properties and Volatile Compounds of Different Chicken Proteins in Dry Adult Dog Foods

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Wine and Food Pairings: Investigating Consumer Preferences

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