Texture is an important consideration when planning menus. Desirable food textures include firm and close, short and crumbly, light and even, spongy, flaky, and smooth textures. Undesirable textures include hard, course and open, soggy, and lumpy textures. Food consistencies refer to the physical state of prepared food and include thin, thick, thick dropping, thick pouring, moist, and dry consistencies. Texture and consistency are important components of food quality and evaluation.

1. FOOD TEXTURES
 Texture is term used to describe the characteristic of the
finished food product.
 Every food product has a distinct texture, so that one can see,
feel, and eat it.
 This is one of the main points to be considered while planning
the menu, as it is very important for each food prepared in the
kitchen.
 Observation, practice, and understanding recipe is the only
way for one to understand the exact texture of any food
preparation. Thus practice is the only way to learn about the
textures.

2. Desirable & Undesirable Textures
 Every food has a texture of its own identity which will
determine the quality of the particular food item. Following
are the desirable and non-desirable texture of the food.
 DESIRABLE TEXTURES: -
These are the good texture of the
food. They indicate the good qualities of the food and hence are
always preferable in every food that is prepared. Following are
the examples of the desirable textures of the food,

3.  Firm and Close: - the texture of the food will be firm and
close together, rising agent are added to the food, the
volume of the food will be increased the holes are even and
close together. They are small and equally distributed in all
over the food product.

4.  Short and Crumbly: -the final product is short and crumbly. It
will just melt in your mouth when you eat them. These are
very delicate in nature. The right quantity of fat is used to get
good texture like this. If the proportion goes wrong the final
texture may be different from the good one.

5.  Light and even: - these are very light and even food textures,
there are plenty of holes and are equally distributed in the
food. It is less short than pastry and less spongy than sponge.
Most commonly cakes have these textures in it.

6. Spongy: - there are plenty of holes present in the food and are
equally distributed in to the food, as the air is trapped while
making food. They are very soft and light food product to
touch like sponge cake, idalies etc.

7.  Flaky: - these products have thin crisp layers of flakes and
they are formed by air pockets. The crispiness is due to
method of rubbing fat in to flour. in order to get good flaky
texture , the right amount of ingredients, proper mixing
method correct temperature id require. These are mostly
used for bakery items.

8.  Smooth: - when the dry ingredients are added to liquid
ingredients and blended to a smooth paste form, it result in
smooth textures.

9.  NON-DESIRABLE TEXTURES: -
These are undesirable
texture of the food, which are not good sigh of the preparation.
By any means if something’s goes wrong with the recipe these
textures are formed and are indication of the faulty food
preparation and hence one should avoid formation of the
following textures.
o Hard texture: -the air enclosed in the product may be driven
off due to addition of extra liquid in to it or has not mixed
properly or sometime if the temperature is too low may
result in to hard textures.

10.  Course and open: - this may be caused of improper way of
mixing or when too much rising agents are used in food it
may result in to course or open texture of the food. The holes
are uneven and are wide open in the food.

11.  Soggy texture: - this is again a bad food textures, these may
happened if there if too much moisture or liquid present in
the food. It tends to sticks to the hand or pan or vessels. It can
be found in various rice preparations.

12.  Lumpy textures: - this happens when the solid and liquid are
not mixed properly at the same temperature or even if they
are at even temperature. Once lumps are cooked they very
difficult to remove. These may occur in sauces sooji hulwa
or in pasta.

13. FOOD CONSISTENCIES
 Food consistencies are the physical state or characteristics of
the prepared food. They occur during the preparation of
food.
 Food consistency is also one of the major components of
food evaluation. A desired food consistency will give best
appreciation where as undesired would result in to
dissatisfaction.
 Following are the various types of food consistencies;
1. Thin 2. Thick 3. Thick dropping 4. Thick Pouring
5. Moist 6. Dry