crunchy adj : pleasingly firm and fresh and making a crunching noise when chewed; "crisp carrot and celery sticks"; "a firm apple"; "crunchy lettuce" [syn: crisp, firm]

English

Adjective

1. likely to crunch, esp. with reference to food when it is eaten
2. In the context of "slang": having sensibilities of a counter-culture nature lover or hippie; derived from the concept of crunchy granola.

   San Franciso is a very crunchy town.

Synonyms

• crispy

Translations

likely to crunch

• French: croquant
• Spanish: crujiente

Crunchiness is the gustatory sensation of muffled grinding of a foodstuff. Crunchiness differs from crispiness in that a crispy item is quickly atomized, while a crunchy one offers sustained, granular resistance to jaw action. While crispiness is difficult to maintain, crunchiness is difficult to overcome.

Vickers (1981) and Christensen and Vickers (1981) aver that crispiness and crunchiness can each be "assessed on the basis of sound alone, on the basis of oral-tactile clues alone, or on the basis of a combination of auditory and oral-tactile information." They also note that an acoustic frequency of 1.9 kHz seems to mark the threshold between the two sensations, with crunchiness at frequencies below, and crispiness at frequencies above.

Crunchy foods include:

• Peanuts
• Mints
• Crunch bar

See also

• Crispiness
• Chewiness
• Mouthfeel
• Marshall Amplification

References