Cherry Juice Study Update
By Marcela Patino
M.S candidate in Food Science
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to determine consumer perception of cherry juice when processed using the following treatments: Control (C), Thermal Concentration(TC), and Forward Osmosis (FO).
Sensory Evaluation:
Test products
For all experimental conditions (Control, Thermal Concentration and Forward Osmosis), the juice was served in 5 oz white plastic cups labeled with 3-digit random codes. (Note: several different random codes were assigned to the Control.) About 30 ml of the test sample was poured into the labeled cup. Sensory evaluation of juices was conducted after 1-week of storage.
Study participants
A total of 60 consumers who liked cherry flavor participated in the study.
Methodology
The respondents evaluated all three samples with the Control being evaluation twice. The samples were evaluated in pairs: Pair 1: Control and Thermal Concentration (TC), Pair 2: Control and Forward Osmosis (FO) sample. The order of presentation was randomized within each product pair.
Within the pair, products were first evaluated one product at a time. And the respondents answered questions about their color, appearance, flavor/taste and liking, using the 9-point Hedonic scale. Once both products have been evaluated monadically within the pair, the Control was identified as Control, and the respondents were asked to rate how different was the other product in the pair from the Control, and which of the two they preferred overall. This process was repeated for the 2nd pair of products.
Timing
The study was conducted this past September.
Results and Recommendations:
Data was analyzed with pair T-Test and categorical comparison .
There was a trend showing the smaller differences with the FO treatment in flavor and overall difference against control and larger difference with the TC samples. These differences in flavor and overall perception, for TC and FO are not significant between each other, p =0.85 and p=0.35, respectively.
A trend in preference against control seems to be higher for FO than TC. However, the difference in preference between FO and TC is not significantly different p=0.5.
86% of participants prefer FO against control because of a “better taste“ this difference in preference is significantly different p=0.001.
Recommendations:
Lower processing temperatures from FO processing are recommended in order to prevent the degradation of color. A follow up study will need to be done applying a discriminatory test and a higher number of samples in order to obtain more sensitive results.
Thank you to all the panelists who participated in this research!
