Use of sensory and physico-chemical parameters to understand consumer perception of attiéké, a fermented cassava product.

Abstract

While cassava breeding research programs initially focused on agronomic performance, in recent years, they have considered the processability and the organoleptic properties of final product, to increase the adoption of new varieties. A main cassava foodstuff is attiéké, a fermented and granular product. It is therefore necessary to determine criteria used by attiéké processors to select raw cassava and the liking drivers of consumers. This study assessed the attiéké production process, the quality criteria of attiéké, the drivers of consumer acceptance and their thresholds. Total processing yield of attiéké varied according to cassava variety and depends primarily on the fermentation-pressing yield. However, it was not correlated neither with the peeling yield nor with morphological characteristics of cassava roots. The production of a ton of attiéké requires about 150 hours. Dry matter, organic acids, soluble sugars, total pectin, and pH of raw material and attiéké varied depending on cassava variety. Ten discriminating sensory attributes of attiéké were identified. Consumer testing showed that attiéké overall liking is associated with sourness, texture, and brightness. Acceptable sensory score threshold was 1.67-2.18 for sour odor, 4.75 to 6.3 for cohesiveness, and 5.4 to 6.3 for 'mouth-filled sensation'. Attiéké dry matter negatively correlated with attiéké pectin content (r = -0.680), and positively with cohesiveness and moldability. Several potential solutions are discussed to improve the adoption of cassava varieties for attiéké production. However, further studies will be carried out to translate the sensory thresholds of texture attributes into robust instrumental methods because texture is the important attribute of attiéké besides sourness. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.