Crunchiness is the sensation of muffled grinding of a foodstuff. Crunchiness differs from crispness in that a crisp item is quickly atomized, while a crunchy one offers sustained, granular resistance to jaw action. While crispness is difficult to maintain, crunchiness is difficult to overcome.
Contents
Crunchy foods are associated with freshness.
Relationship to sound
Crispness 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". An acoustic frequency of 1.9 kHz seems to mark the threshold between the two sensations, with crunchiness at frequencies below, and crispness at frequencies above.
Crunchy food breaks at a speed of 300 meters per second, which is the speed of sound. The sound of crunching food is therefore "a tiny sonic boom".
Examples
Crunchy foods include: