0086 18165740359The color of biscuits is one of the important indicators for consumers to judge their quality . Biscuit color measurement is an important technology in the food industry, which is used to evaluate the quality, consistency and attractiveness of biscuits. The uniformity of color not only affects the appearance of the product, but is also directly related to its baking degree, formula accuracy and the stability of the production process. Therefore, accurate biscuit color measurement is essential for quality control in the baking industry. This article will introduce in detail the factors that affect biscuit color, the importance, methods and recommended instruments of biscuit color measurement.
Factors Affecting Cookie Color
1. Formula ingredients
Flour type: Refined white flour gives the cookies a pale yellow color, while whole wheat or rye flour will produce a darker color.
Sugar content: Sugar caramelizes during baking and determines the golden or brown color of the cookie. The more sugar, the darker the color.
Protein content: The higher the protein content, the more Maillard reaction occurs under high temperature baking, making the biscuits darker in color.
2. Baking process
Baking temperature: High temperature baking will accelerate the Maillard reaction and make the cookie crust darker, while lower temperature will make the color lighter.
Baking time: The longer the time, the darker the color of the cookie crust. Overbaking may cause scorching.
Humidity control: When the humidity is high during baking, the color of the crust may be lighter; when the humidity is low, the cookie crust is more likely to burn.
3. Use of additives
Egg yolks, milk and butter: will increase the yellow hue of the cookies.
Cocoa powder, coffee powder, rye flour: make the cookies dark brown or even black.
Food coloring: Some cookies may use natural or artificial colors such as caramel coloring and curcumin to adjust the color.
Why Measure Biscuit Color?
1. Ensure stable product quality
Inconsistent color may mean that there is a problem with the recipe or baking conditions. Through color measurement, color changes during the production process can be detected and baking parameters can be adjusted in time to ensure consistent color for each batch of cookies.
2. Improve consumer recognition
Consumers often judge the degree of baking of cookies based on color. For example, golden cookies are more popular than those that are too light or too dark. Therefore, precise color control can enhance the market appeal of products.
3. Monitor the stability of raw materials and production processes
The color variation of biscuits may be related to factors such as flour quality, sugar ratio, baking time, etc. Through color measurement, these changes can be monitored to ensure the stability of the production process.
4. Ensure brand consistency
For a chain bakery brand, the color of cookies produced in all factories must be consistent. Accurate color measurement helps ensure brand consistency and improve consumer trust.
Methods for measuring Cookie Color
Biscuit color measurement methods can be divided into two main categories: visual assessment and instrumental measurement.
Visual Assessment
Visual assessment is the simplest method, usually performed by trained assessors to score the biscuit color based on color charts or standard samples. This method is low-cost and easy to implement, but has the disadvantages of high subjectivity and poor repeatability. Therefore, visual assessment is suitable for preliminary screening, but is often replaced by instrumental measurement in scenarios that require high accuracy and consistency.
Instrument measurement
Instrumental measurement is the preferred method for measuring biscuit color because it is objective, accurate, and can provide quantitative color data. Commonly used instruments include colorimeter and spectrophotometer , which determine the color by measuring the reflectance or transmittance of an object at different wavelengths, and usually use CIE Lab* color space to represent color data:
L* : Indicates brightness, ranging from 0 (black) to 100 (white) , and cookie L* values are usually between 50 and 70 .
a* : represents the red-green axis, +a is red, -a* is green. Cookie a* values are usually between 5 and 15 (reddish).
b* : represents the yellow-blue axis, +b is yellow, -b* is blue. The b* value of cookies is between 20 and 40 (yellowish).
Recommended instruments for measuring biscuit color
Non-contact spectrophotometer YL4560 (45°/0°)
YL4560 spectrophotometer is a color measurement instrument that adopts the 45/0° (45° annular uniform illumination 0° reception) standard. The test probe and the sample to be tested are non-contacted, and non-contact precision color measurement of liquids, sauces, powders, etc. can be achieved. It can be used for accurate color analysis and transmission in laboratories and R&D industries; it can also be used for accurate color measurement and color quality control of automated production lines; it is widely used in the cosmetics, fruits and vegetables, food hygiene, plastic electronics, paints and inks, printing, ceramics and other industries, and can be used for fluorescent sample measurement. Its unique innovative design can not only provide non-contact measurement solutions directly from the production line, but also ensure stable and high-precision measurement results.
3nh NR20XE is a portable computer colorimeter designed with 45°/0° optical geometry. Its measuring aperture is 20mm. The color measurement result of NR20XE simulates human eye observation, but its accuracy is several times higher than that of human eye. NR20XE can more effectively reflect the interaction between the surface texture and color of the sample. When judging the critical tolerance of the sample color value, NR20XE can effectively eliminate the error between the human eye and the colorimeter caused by the surface texture of the sample. Therefore, NR20XE is widely used in color QC departments.
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