The firmness of uncooked and cooked broccoli stems was measured
using TA.XTPlus texture analyzer (Stable Micro Systems, Godalming,
UK) equipped with a 10-blade Kramer shear cell since it simulates the
bite into foods and thus provides information about the bite behavior
as well as the crispiness and firmness (DLG, 2015). Four stems of approximately
similar size and amount (about 10 ± 0.2 g) were placed
in the Kramer shear cell for evaluation.