25 slices of bread at $4 a slice adds up to a lot of bread—literally and figuratively

~Friday~ Today was payday in the five-day Bread Tasting Test that I participated in all this week, as part of NC State’s Sensory Service Center.

Before I started this test last Monday, I did not know that the actual bread part of the bread—as opposed to the crust—is called “the crumb.” Did you?

Each day this week, I tasted five slices of wheat bread and then used a #2 pencil filling in little circles on a “bubble sheet” to respond to these statements:

• Before tasting:
1. Rate the overall look of the bread.
2. Rate the look of the crust.
3. Rate the look of the crumb.
• After tasting:
1. Rate the overall taste.
2. Rate the taste of the crust.
3. Rate the taste of the crumb.
4. Rate the texture of the crust.
5. Rate the texture of the crumb.
6. Rate the moistness of the bread.
7. Rate the sweetness of the bread.
8. Rate how you would feel if this was the only bread available to eat in your home.
9. Rate how close this comes to what you would consider the ideal slice of whole wheat bread.
10. Rate how likely your family would be to eat this bread if you had it in your home.
11. Rate how likely you would be to buy this bread if it was available in the store at a reasonable price.

When it was all said and done, today, I was paid $4 per slice to eat 25 slices of bread, and I picked up this on the way out: