Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The literature concerning cooked‐potato texture is reviewed and discussed in the light of three new hypotheses. First, that “mealiness” is the subjective perception of the flow characteristics (“viscosity”) of cooked tissue and that this aspect of texture is controlled primarily by the solids content of the tuber. Second, that the reduction in tissue strength which occurs on cooking is due to water uptake by the polysaccharides of the cell wall. This increases the thickness of the cell wall and reduces the viscosity of the cell wall matrix: both effects combine to reduce the stress required to separate cells. Third, that, when the intrinsic properties of the cell wall material lead to excessive hydration, the adhesion between cells may be sufficiently reduced to allow spontaneous separation or “sloughing”.</jats:p>