Texture Analysis of Tortillas

Application

Producer of corn flour tortilla products needed a way to determine the texture and resistance to tear their products.

Problem

To be considered a good tortilla, the product has to be flexible enough to roll up but strong enough to hold a typically hot filling without tearing. Current methods for testing are very subjective and unreliable. They wanted a way to put firm numbers to the properties of their products to replace current subjective measurements.

Solution

Individual samples to be tested were prepared by cutting 6 square samples from the same tortilla to fit into the testing fixture. All testing was done at room temperature using the TMS‐Pro Texture Analyzer. The samples were held in place using a ring clamp (Extensibility Fixture) and punctured through using a 1” inch cylinder probe. The test speed was set to 150mm/min and run to a distance of 35mm. This distance was far enough to have the probe puncture throught the sample.

Benefit

• Simple test to objectively measure the tear strength of tortillas
• Software facilitates automatic statistical analysis
• Allows customer to put ‘real’ numbers to their subjective data