ABSTRACTUsually, uniaxial compression of food materials is performed at constant speed, which causes an increase of the true strain rate during experiments. By using a method described previously (Jaros and Rohm 1994) highly elastic biopolymer gels were compressed at standard conditions and with decreasing crosshead speed in order to maintain constant strain rate conditions during test. In the case of gels showing failure at a Hencky deformation of>0.5‐0.6, significantly lower values for apparent fracture strain were found in constant strain rate compression. Differences in stress at apparent fracture showed good agreement with respect to this critical value. Implications and consequences on interrelation between sensory and instrumental measurements as well as on relationships between rheological and fracture properties are discusse