Evaluation of compactness as a method to quantitatively assess Chinese cabbage texture

Abstract

Quality evaluation during growth and processing is quite important for the acceptability of Chinese cabbage. As destructive measurements of puncture firmness were not widely available on spherical leafy vegetables, the compactness index was utilized to determine the texture of Chinese cabbage using self-made apparatus, and the test parameters were optimized by L9(34) orthogonal design test. The experimental validation of novel compactness and conventional puncture approaches was conducted on 60 samples every 3 d for 16 d in storage. Mechanical vibration methods, artificial sensory evaluation, and discriminant analysis were employed for further comparative analysis of the adaptability of the compactness index. Results showed that the compactness measurement system could achieve superior performance when the width of the fiberglass belt, diameter change rate, and loading rate were 0.030 m, 15 %, and 10 mm min−1, respectively. Both compactness and firmness were independent of shape and mass, while compactness values correlated well with density and vibration parameters. Compactness also closely reflects the overall structure and texture. Results of repeatability, sensitivity, and sensory evaluation were consistent with these findings. The total discriminant accuracies of firmness and compactness were 53.3 % and 73.3 %, respectively. The proposed approach provided a non-destructive technique for the quantitative texture measurement of Chinese cabbage.