Rockfish (Sebastes miniatus) fillets and salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) steaks were held in atmospheres containing 20% or 40%

High sugar and acid F1 hybrids of tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) were rated higher in sweetness, sourness, and overall flavor intensity than the standard cultivar ‘Cal Ace’. Titratable acidity and soluble solids content were responsible for most of the differences in overall flavor intensity among these hybrids, their parents, and ‘Cal Ace’. The results support the idea that improved tomato flavor can be achieved via increased sugar and acid content.

Four amino acids (glutamic, γ-aminobutyric, glutamine, and aspartic) make up about 80% of the total free amino acids in fruits of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill., cv. Cal Ace). Fruits harvested at the table-ripe stage contained more alanine and less glutamic acid than those picked green or at the breaker (incipient red color) stage and ripened at 20°C to table-ripe. The higher glutamic acid concentrations in fruit picked at the breaker or earlier stages were paralled to higher scores for “off-flavor,” as described by a taste panel, relative to fruits picked table-ripe. However, when monopotassium glutamate (60, 120, or 180 mg/l00g) was added to diced table-ripe fruits, the panelists were not able to detect flavor differences due to increased glutamic acid concn. Differences in amino acid composition associated with fruit ripeness when picked do not appear to be directly related to flavor differences.

This very complex topic must be dealt with only superficially here. Volumes have been written about sensory evaluation, and the best that this short paper can do is to generalize about sensory evaluation of horticultural commodities from our experience with tomatoes.