If you’ve ever been asked whether you liked a food product and had to score it out of 5 or 10, you’ve probably used a hedonic scale.
Hedonic scales are one of the simplest and most commonly used forms of sensory analysis in Food Technology and Hospitality and Catering. They help us to measure how much a person likes or dislikes a food product.
What is a hedonic scale?
A hedonic scale is a sensory evaluation method used to measure a person’s opinion of a food product.
Rather than describing specific characteristics such as flavour or texture, a hedonic scale asks a simple question:
How much do you like this product?
The tester then chooses a score from a scale, for example:
| Score | Opinion |
|---|---|
| 9 | Like extremely |
| 8 | Like very much |
| 7 | Like moderately |
| 6 | Like slightly |
| 5 | Neither like nor dislike |
| 4 | Dislike slightly |
| 3 | Dislike moderately |
| 2 | Dislike very much |
| 1 | Dislike extremely |
The 9-point hedonic scale is one of the most widely used scales in food science and product development.
Why do we use hedonic scales?
Hedonic scales are useful because they:
- are quick and easy to complete
- allow us to compare products
- help identify consumer preferences
- provide numerical data
- support product development
- help justify recipe modifications
They are used in schools, colleges and throughout the food industry.
Example
Imagine you have developed two flapjack recipes:
- Original flapjack
- Reduced sugar flapjack
You ask ten people to score each product using a hedonic scale. You can then work out the average and present this data in a table or a bar chart.
| Product | Average score |
|---|---|
| Original flapjack | 8.4 |
| Reduced sugar flapjack | 6.7 |
This suggests that testers preferred the original recipe and that further development of the reduced sugar version may be needed. Maybe changing the quantity of sugar or adding a different ingredient as an alternative source of sweetness?
Common mistakes when using hedonic scales
One of the biggest mistakes students make is treating a hedonic scale as a sensory description.
For example:
“It scored 9 because it tasted nice.”
This doesn’t tell us very much.
Instead, try to explain why the product scored highly:
“The product scored highly because testers enjoyed the sweet flavour, chewy texture and buttery aroma.”
A hedonic scale tells us whether someone liked a product, but not necessarily why they liked it.
Advantages of using a hedonic scale
- Quick and easy to complete
- Simple for children and adults to understand
- Produces numerical data
- Useful for comparing products
- Widely recognised in food science
Disadvantages of using a hedonic scale
- Does not explain why someone liked a product
- Responses can be subjective
- People often avoid giving extreme scores
- Different people may interpret the scale differently
When should I use a hedonic scale?
A hedonic scale works particularly well when:
- comparing two recipes
- reducing sugar or salt
- testing healthier products
- carrying out practical investigations
- comparing commercial products
- gathering feedback from larger groups
Hedonic scales and healthier food products
Hedonic scales are particularly useful when developing healthier recipes.
For example, if you reduce the amount of sugar in biscuits or cakes, you may want to find out whether testers still enjoy the product. A lower score might suggest that the recipe needs further development, while a similar score to the original product suggests that the changes have been successful.
The same approach can be used when reducing salt, fat or portion sizes.
Create your own hedonic scale
Want to create your own printable hedonic scales?
Try our free Sensory Analysis Toolkit, which allows you to generate:
- hedonic scales
- sensory star profiles
- ranking tests
- triangle tests
- JAR scales
- semantic differential scales
- sensory evaluation sheets
You may also find our guide to Sensory Words for Food useful when explaining why a product received a particular score.
