Results are reported in Table 2b. NS-D and SL-D break force values (resistance to extension) were statistically equal and significantly higher (P < 0.05) than SC-D and, especially, FR-D ones.
Resistance to uniaxial extension was thus lower in those samples containing bulk sugars, in accordance with the weaker and softer structure revealed by the compression test. SL-D and NS-D, being more resistant, also showed a significant (P < 0.05) lower extensibility (44.9 and 42.4 mm, respectively), in comparison to SC-D (58.0 mm).FR-D, instead, showed extensibility values statistically equal (P > 0.05) to those of NS-D and SL-D, probably because its inner structure was too weak to stand high tensile stresses. Also considering the energy at rupture and the total area under the force-distance curve, SL-D and NS-D did not show significantly (P < 0.05) different behaviors. The lower values were showed by FRD, while the highest were exhibited by SC-D, indicating once again the high influence of sucrose on the textural properties of CTD.