Correlation studies between sensory properties and instrumental parameters to evaluate apple quality

Sensory analysis performed by trained assessors or consumers is the only direct approach to measure perceptible properties of food products and to interpret consumer?s responses. Over the last 30 years different sensory techniques, alone or in combination with instrumental characterization of related physical and chemical parameters, have been proposed to study the eating quality of apple fruit (Malus ? domestica Borkh.) as affected by breeding activities, crop management and post-harvest practices. Cultivar has been defined as the most important source of variability. The study of post-harvest apple sensory quality demonstrated that different sensory patterns were developed by different cultivars during storage. Breeding programs, in general, adopt sensory evaluation as a fundamental tool to study the acceptability of new apple cultivars and their performance in real market conditions, even if not always by application of rigorous sensory science criteria. Texture and taste properties were found to be the most important characteristics driving consumer preferences, even if they appeared to be strongly influenced by external factors. In this review particular attention is also given to correlation studies between sensory properties and instrumental parameters, since sensory analysis requirements, in terms of facilities, commitment by panelists and time, have made the relationships between sensory and instrumental data of considerable interest to researchers wishing to find more convenient ways to describing the sensory profiles of apples. The PhD Disertation by Dr. Maria Laura Corollaro, "Sensory and instrumental profiling of apples: a new tool for quality assessment", available below, proposed a combined sensory-instrumental tool can be suggested as a valid source to define sensory properties of apples in wider samplings, when sensory analysis is not feasible because of the limits in using humans,or because of a low availability of fruit material: in such cases, sensory analysis applied on a subset might allow the definition of proper predictive models to be applied on a higher number of apple samples assessed instrumentally, in order to estimate their sensory profile. Sources An Overview of Sensory Quality of Apple Fruit Maria Laura Corollaro, Flavia Gasperi, and Luca Corelli Grappadelli Journal of the American Pomological Society (J Am Pom Soc), Volume 68 Number 3 Article 4 Pages: 141-157, Year 2014 Month 7 The picture shows profiles of 12 apple varieties analyzed at different times during storage. The source is the PhD Disertation of Dr. Corollaro. ?