Abstract
The present study aimed to understand the drivers of liking dried apple and pear chips with various textures among Chinese (n = 58), Korean (n = 58), and US (n = 56) consumers. The possibility of hedonic transfer from snack texture preferences to fruit-chip texture preferences was also investigated among Chinese and Koreans. Fourteen fruit-chip samples with four textural properties (crispy, puffy, soft, and jelly-like) were selected. Consumers rated their level of liking for each sample, and then they performed hedonic-based projective mapping with the same samples. In the hedonic texture transfer investigation, consumers rated their acceptance of nine snacks with various textures but possessing similar textures to those of dried fruit samples. The data were analyzed by ANOVA and multiple factor analysis. Most consumers disliked samples with a soft or jelly-like texture, while liked samples with a crispy texture. Cross-cultural differences were observed in the liking of puffy samples, with both Chinese and Koreans liking puffy samples as much as crispy ones for their melting characteristics in the mouth, while US consumers perceived the puffy samples as being Styrofoam-like and disliked them. Hedonic transfer was observed from snack texture preferences to fruit-chip. Individual texture preferences for snacks seem to significantly affect the texture preferences for fruit chips.
Highlights
One of the problems facing Korean agricultural businesses is the steady decrease in the consumption of fresh domestic fruits, including apples and pears, which is partly due to increases in the amount of fruit being imported [1]
The present study investigated the acceptance as well as the perceptual configuration of dried apple and pear chips with various texture properties among Chinese, Korean, and US consumers, with the aim of understanding the key attributes that drive the liking of fruit chips in a cross-cultural context
The flavors of the chips were intentionally varied by testing both apple and pear fruit chips together, flavor characteristics seemed to play a smaller role than texture since the variation in the acceptance score was smaller between apple and pear chips than among the different texture types
Summary
One of the problems facing Korean agricultural businesses is the steady decrease in the consumption of fresh domestic fruits, including apples and pears, which is partly due to increases in the amount of fruit being imported [1]. Imported bananas and oranges are replacing the consumption of domestic apples and pears [1,2], and so the fruit industry in Korea is actively seeking strategies to increase the consumption of these traditionally grown domestic fruits. Value-added fruit products are a very attractive marketing concept since they meet increasing consumer demands for healthy and natural products [3,4,5]. Mainland China and US are especially attractive markets for Korea since these two countries are two of the top three countries importing Korean food products [13]
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