Relating Objective and Subjective Ratings of Snap Bean Pod Color to Likelihood of Purchase

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Snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cultivars with pods representing a range of greenness were grown in Oklahoma field trials in 2001 and 2004. Objective color evaluations (L* value and hue angle) performed on raw and cooked pod samples from 10 (2001) or 12 (2004) of these cultivars indicated that color testing of raw snap bean pods may not be sufficient to determine the color after cooking. Although L* values may be expected to decrease after cooking, the magnitude of the changes may not be predictable. Changes in hue angle values after cooking appear to be even more variable among cultivars. Therefore, if the color of the cooked beans is expected to be a deciding factor in cultivar selection, we would recommend conducting color tests on cooked bean pods as well as the raw product. Twenty relatively straight, unblemished pods per cultivar were harvested on 20 June 2001 and on 30 June 2004 from plants of ‘Blue Lake 274’, ‘Brio’, ‘Charon’, ‘Jade’, and ‘Seville’. The five most uniform pods per cultivar (all sieve Size 4) were presented as raw samples that same day to an untrained panel consisting of seven males and 18 females (2001) or nine males and 18 females (2004). This was an affective test; panelists were asked to evaluate intensity of color and likeliness to buy using a 5-point semantic differential scale. Correlation coefficients for the two attributes were calculated. Sensory panelists were able to make subjective distinctions among the cultivars based on color. However, these differences did not necessarily correlate with either objective color measures or likelihood of purchase. Snap bean pod color is not an overriding selection criterion, but only one of many criteria considered by consumers.