A Lexicon was developed for yerba mate tea including attributes, definitions, and references to describe the color, aroma, and flavor. A highly trained panel generated 39 attributes and evaluated 18 samples of tea. Some attributes such as smoky, woody, straw-like, ashy, astringent, bitter, sweet aromatics, musty dusty, and dark green were present in most of the samples. Other characteristics such as green, floral, spice brown, and petroleum-like appeared in less than 50% of the samples. The sensory profile of mate tea was complex but differed for various teas. This terminology can be useful for manufacturers, producers, and consumers and helpful for the standardization of mate tea. Practical applicationThe development of a sensory lexicon for mate tea can be helpful for the entire mate tea chain from grower to producer to consumer. Such a lexicon aids researcher in breeding programs for Yerba Mate, can help crop managers producing mate tea with the desired characteristics; assists manufacturers in differentiating products, categorizing and selecting of raw material, optimizing processes and developing new products;and can ensure consumers they are getting a consisted, expected product. Such data are critical for use in sensory studies where descriptive data are related to consumer preferences and for conducting studies in different, labs, regions, and countries.
When developing new products, it is important to understand not only the category, but also the characteristics of existing products in that category. It is common to analyze white spaces and generate ideas based on the markets in one's home country; but it is less common to look to other countries for inspiration for new product ideas. Differences in culture and practice may create difficulties for researchers. The objective of this case study was to determine and address the methodological challenges of conducting a product category assessment in an unfamiliar country. This was accomplished by exploring the snack food markets in Kyoto, Japan; and collecting snack products to generate new concepts for future snack food innovation projects. Fifteen sensory experts from Kansas State University traveled to Kyoto, Japan to understand better the regional snack food market. The researchers targeted shops and markets in search of various types of snacks. The group tasted a subset of the snacks and held discussions on product sensory attributes, and any challenges in obtaining and understanding the snacks. Issues included payment, data collection, product selection, evaluation space, language barriers, and transportation. Real‐time problem solving and group discussion led to solutions to overcome such challenges.Practical ApplicationsThis paper provides a set of considerations for better understanding a product category in an unfamiliar country. It highlights issues and potential solutions for researchers who want to conduct such research.
A lexicon in English and Chinese was developed to describe the aroma and flavor profiles of sensory characteristics of Zanthoxylum bungeanum, also known as Sichuan pepper 花椒 or Chinese prickly ash. A trained, experienced descriptive analysis panel was used to determine the flavor characteristics for Sichuan Pepper. A total of 32 sensory attributes were detected, which included 15 attributes for aroma and 17 attributes for flavor. The aroma profile included peppery, green, citrus, pungent, fennel anise, brothy, floral/perfumy, piney, fruity, sweet aromatics, petroleum‐like, chive, earthy, brown, and menthol. The flavor profile included peppery, green, citrus, pungent, minty, floral, piney, fruity, petroleum‐like, earthy, cardboard, green‐viney, umami, bitter, astringent, tingle, and numbing. The lexicon was validated and demonstrated through 16 different Sichuan pepper samples, including subspecies, locations, and brands. Green Sichuan peppers were more highly flavored and more similar to each other than red peppers suggesting that older plants producing red peppers produce milder and slightly more differentiated samples. Practical Applications Sichuan pepper is a major flavor ingredient in some types of Asian cooking. A lexicon is needed to identify the effects of different subspecies and processing technologies for Sichuan pepper in order to understand differences in aroma and flavor among these “peppers.” The developed lexicon has been shown to differentiate among commercial samples.
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