Replacement of gelatin with Opuntia ficus-indica mucilage in flavored pink and unflavored white marshmallows. Part 2: Consumer liking

Abstract

Mucilage from the cladodes of Opuntia ficus-indica is under investigation for application inseveral foodstuffs. Since it can not form gels on its own, it is advised to be used incombination with other hydrocolloids. The aim of this study was to compare consumer likingof flavored and unflavored marshmallows made with wet mucilage, to that of a flavored andunflavored control sample (with 100% gelatin), as well as a flavored and unflavoredcommercial brand. Ninety-two consumers tasted the following six samples: whitecommercial (Manhattan); white control (gelatin); white mucilage (75% mucilage + 12.5%agar + 12.5% xanthan); pink commercial (Manhattan); pink control (gelatin); and pinkmucilage (75% mucilage + 12.5% agar + 12.5% xanthan). Consumer liking was tested fortaste, aftertaste, texture, as well as an overall acceptability of liking. The white mucilagemarshmallows had the lowest ranking for taste, aftertaste, texture and overall acceptability,and differed significantly (p<0.05) from all the other samples. However, the pink mucilagemarshmallow did not differ from the pink commercial one (which had the highest rankingsfor taste, aftertaste, texture, and overall acceptability) and pink control marshmallow. Thedifferences between the white and pink mucilage marshmallows ranged between 2.75 and2.89 on the hedonic scale. It could be concluded that flavoring successfully masked thedistinctive aroma of the mucilage in the marshmallows, thereby also increasing scores fortexture and overall acceptability.