ABSTRACTChicken patties (50% light/50% dark meat) were used as training and testing samples by a 10‐member panel to develop descriptive terms appropriate for profiling the taste/aroma character notes of fresh and reheated chicken meat. A free word association list of 45 terms was developed in initial training sessions. These terms were used to obtain frequency of use and intensity data for statistical analyses to determine appropriateness of the terms for profiling and discriminating among fresh and reheat treatments of the chicken patties. The initial list was reduced to 31 terms by a frequency‐use delimiter of 40% over four replications and by MANOVA probability values (P>.05) for sample differences. FACTOR (principal components) analysis applied to the reduced list of terms indicated six logical associative groupings of terms that explained 77% variation in the data. A final list of 12 descriptors was developed by omitting redundant terms in a factor group