Development of a lexicon for flavor and texture of fresh peach cultivars

Abstract

A universal lexicon to describe the appearance, aroma/flavors, and textures/feeling factors of peaches was developed. The objective was to provide a standardized lexicon for descriptive validation. A trained descriptive panel established 29 attributes using 51 peach cultivars grown throughout the production season. This lexicon includes 18 aroma and flavor attributes to describe mature peaches as well as under‐ripe and over‐ripe, redness of flesh for appearance, three feeling factors, and seven terms for describing textures. Principal component analysis was used to discern if differences were found among peach samples using the lexicon terms utilized by trained panelists. Texture was the primary differentiating factor in the first dimension of the biplot followed by peach‐identity in the second dimension. Additionally, the attributes “peach‐identity,” “fruity,” “sweet,” “tart,” “citrus,” “sour,” along with textures and feeling factors were prominent in all peach varieties. This lexicon can be useful to identify and quantify sensory attributes in fresh peaches for food and agriculture research. Practical applications The assessment of peach fruit varieties grown throughout the southeastern United States would create a basis for understanding the prominent and unique characteristics of peach varieties and their inherited variability. The peach lexicon created in this study will provide a platform for researchers and producers to understand the desirable sensory traits in peaches. It will allow comparisons among varieties currently available, create a database to be used in breeding applications, and help the growers to produce peaches with desirable sensory traits that could be commercially successful.

Lexicon for multiparameter texture assessment of snack and snack‐like foods in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Hindi

“…For example, this texture lexicon covered all the 19 texture terms described for 50 pasta samples (Irie et al, 2018). Similarly, terms developed in other studies for various products were also included in this lexicon, for example: 4 texture terms to describe 18 different cashew samples (Griffin et al, 2017); 17 out of 20 attributes for 24 French bread samples (Hayakawa, Ukai, Nishida, Kazami, & Kohyama, 2010); 12 out of 14 texture descriptors for 8 commercial red sufu products (He, Chen, & Chung, 2018); all 7 texture attributes for 12 commercial plain sufu products (Chen & Chung, 2016); and 6 of 7 attributes for fresh peaches (Belisle et al, 2017). All 19 texture terms provided for almonds by Civille et al (2010) are included in this texture lexicon.…”

“…Throughout the study a product frame of reference was collected to generate terms, followed by review of references, examples and determining the final descriptor list. Similar methodology has been used in other recent studies (see e.g., Chambers et al, 2017;Griffin, Dean, & Drake, 2017;Kim, Lee, & Kim, 2017;Belisle, Adhikari, Chavez, & Phan, 2017).…”

Establishment of a sensory lexicon for dried long pasta

“…The final lexicon consists of five terms for appearance, 11 for aroma/flavor, and 19 for texture. In past examples of lexicons, often only commercial food products were used for the texture references (Belisle et al, ; Griffin et al, ; Hongsoongnern & Chambers, ). However, because texture was considered to be particularly important for the lexicon of the pasta in this study, emphasis was placed on establishing the references for the attributes of texture to evaluate sample qualities in detail.…”

“…After publication of this review, several product‐specific lexicons were developed, including ones for soy sauce (Imamura, ), seasoning soy sauce (Pujchakarn, Suwonsichon, & Suwonsichon, ), brewed coffee (Chambers et al, ), artisan goat cheese from the United States (Talavera & Chambers, ), plain sufu (Chen & Chung, ), and cashew nuts (Griffin, Dean, & Drake, ). However, there have only been a few reports on lexicons including various attributes of texture, such as the ones for tomato (Hongsoongnern & Chambers, ), peach (Belisle, Adhikari, Chavez, & Phan, ), and cashew nut (Griffin et al, ), because it is more difficult to establish the reference products or substances for the texture attributes than for the aroma/flavor attributes, of which chemicals can be used for references. For cereal products, lexicons describing the flavor attributes of different types of rice (Limpawattana & Shewfelt, ) and unpolished rice (Bett‐Garber, Lea, Champagne, & Mcclung, ) have been developed.…”

Sensory Shelf Life Estimation of Novel Fortified Blended Foods Under Accelerated and Real‐Time Storage Conditions

“…At each time point, descriptive sensory analysis was conducted to evaluate aromas and flavors of all samples using six highly trained panelists of the Center for Sensory Analysis and Consumer Behavior at Kansas State Univ. Similar panels have been used for FBFs and recent studies of other products (Alexander, de Beer, Muller, van der Rijst, & Joubert, 2017;Belisle, Adhikari, Chavez, & Phan, 2017;Chambers et al, 2016;Gaudette & Pietrasik, 2017;Jaffe, Wang, & Chambers, 2017;Kim, Lee, & Kim, 2017;Koppel & Koppel, 2018). The panelists used in this study had more than 4 months of descriptive panel training; more than 2000 hr of sensory testing experience, including many types of grain products; and were oriented to this project in four 1.5 hr sessions.…”