The effect of cultivar and cultivation on sensory profiles of fresh strawberries and their purées

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to delineate and compare the sensory profiles of four different strawberry cultivars (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.), Elsanta, Marmolada, Maya and Queen Elisa, grown in Croatia in both conventional and organic cultivation. Sensory profiles of the fresh fruit and their purées were determined by quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA). ANOVA was applied to establish the differences between the intensities of sensory attributes of the fresh strawberries and their purées, arising from the employment of different cultivars and different cultivation types. Seven sensory attributes (out of 14 investigated) showed variations among fresh fruit samples and their purées, two types of cultivation and four cultivars. Sensory attributes, in terms of sour, sweet and harmonious tastes and colour intensity, were compared to the results of experimental physicochemical measurements of titratable acidity (TA), pH, total solids (TS), soluble solids (SS), quality index (SS/TA) and total amounts of anthocyanins, and showed strong correlations between them. The results of this study were also evaluated using multivariate modelling methods, such as principal component analysis (PCA). PCA showed that, regardless of cultivar employed, the attributes best characterizing the fresh samples under evaluation were sweet and harmonious taste, firmness, and floury and aqueous texture, while the purée samples could be best described by earthy and green flavour, off‐odour and off‐flavour, homogeneous texture, strawberry odour, viscous texture and sour taste. PCA of the sensory data showed that the analysed sensory attributes could be clearly linked to different cultivars and different cultivation types, for both the fresh samples and their purées. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.