Recently, the interest in tropical fruits has increased widely even beyond their production areas, but the perishable nature of these fruits makes their marketing difficult. However, due to its special sensory characteristics and nutritional value, lulo (Solanum quitoense Lam.) is a good candidate for product development to meet this ever-growing demand. Therefore, a lulo-powder-based soluble beverage was prepared according to previously established formulations. Thus, the aim of the present research was to obtain the sensory characterization, study consumers’ overall acceptability, and identify drivers of liking for the new beverage. Eight samples were prepared with lulo juice or pulp + stevia, or a sweetener blend (erythritol + xylitol + stevia). Maltodextrin or inulin, as a drying aid, was added to freeze-dry the samples. The freeze-dried samples were rehydrated for consumption. The sensory characterization of the new beverage was carried out by using CATA questions with consumers (n = 69). The most influential attributes that affected acceptability were identified by using ideal product characterization and hedonic scores of the samples. The beverage formulations with stevia alone had the lowest acceptability. Most sensory differences among samples were found between the visual attributes. The attributes “clean”, “homogeneous”, “fruity” and “citrus” odor, “just-right acidity”, “just-right sweetness”, and “fresh” were necessary to increase global acceptance in the juice-only beverages (Js), whereas “cloudy”, “off-odor”, and “very acidic” negatively impacted acceptance. For products with pulp (Ps), “citrus” and “tropical fruit” odors, “just-right acidity”, “just-right sweetness”, and “fresh” attributes were needed to increase acceptance, while “cloudy” and “chemical/artificial” flavors negatively impacted acceptance. The lulo-powder-based soluble beverage was accepted by consumers; however, there is still potential for the sensory-quality improvement of this product.
Lulo or naranjilla (Solanum quitoense Lam.) is a tropical fruit with great potential for its contents of antioxidant and biofunctional compounds and sensory characteristics. Nowadays, the different methodologies to classify the ripening stage of lulo fruits are prone to bias and can hinder adequate characterization of the fruit maturity stage as they do not use measurements. The aim of this research was to define an accurate method for classifying lulo fruits by ripening stage based on non-destructive parameters and to determine their main characteristics according to the ripening stage. Hierarchical cluster analysis was carried out to classify fruits according to their maturity index (MI) into two (MI2) and three (MI3) homogeneous groups of individuals. Using partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), with the non-destructive parameters showing significant differences between groups, classification functions by ripening stage were established. The PLS-DA correctly classified 89.47% of the fruits in the MI2 classification and 78.95% in the MI3 classification. The predictive power of the models was tested with fruits other than those used to establish the prediction equations, obtaining a correct classification in 75% of the cases. It is possible to classify lulo fruits objectively with a limited number of non-destructive parameters that constitutes a useful tool from harvesting to consumption.
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