Sensory evaluation and quality indices of three authochtonous apple cultivars fom Abruzzo

The valorisation of marginal varieties, belonging to different vegetables species can allow to recover genetic resources with a positive impact on the preservation of biodiversity. This aspect is of considerable importance in the case of species rich in nutrients, vitamins or antioxidant. To this aim, three autochthonous apple cultivars from Abruzzo (Limoncella, Mela Gelata and Mela Rosa) were evaluated for chemical, physical and sensory quality. The latter grants the appreciation of these products in the local market where they are commonly commercialized. A sensory profile was created by Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) for the autochthonous apple cultivars and compared to that of the Golden Delicious apples that were used as reference. A panel of 11 trained judges was used to evaluate the sensory profile. Significant relations were found between instrumental measurements and sensory attributes. QDA results were processed by Analysis of Variance and Principal Component Analysis. The cultivar Mela Gelata was characterized by low acidity and sourness, the cultivar Limoncella by high acidity and sourness whilst the cultivar Mela Rosa showed a strong flowery flavour. Fifty untrained consumer were asked to express their visual and overall preference using a 9 point hedonic scale. Autochthonous apples having small size and being not uniform in shape were characterized by low visual preference scores. Among the autochthonous cultivars Mela Rosa showed the highest mean overall preference score, which resulted not significantly different from that of Golden Delicious.[...]