INSTRUMENTAL MEASUREMENT AND MODELLING OF TOMATO FRUIT TASTE

For a characterization of the taste of tomatoes from different market segments from the auction, several physical and chemical parameters of tomato fruit quality were measured in 1996 and 1997. A trained describing panel evaluated several sensorial attributes, and an indicative consumer panel evaluated the pleasantness of the fruits.
Sweetness and mealiness were prominent attributes of tomato taste.
In both years the fruits were roughly similar in pleasantness, but in 1997 the fruits were less mealy.
Multiple linear regression models with instrumental parameters were calculated to predict sensorial attributes sweetness, mealiness, and pleasantness.
To allow for the measurement of percentage juice in all fruit types, the original method of compression of pericarp disks was slightly modified, but the new method was not yet suitable for the determination of texture parameters in cherry tomatoes.
Sweetness can be instrumentally determined by measuring the percentage juice and soluble solids content; the data suggest that HPLC measurements are maybe superfluous.

II Modelling Plant Growth, Environmental Control and Farm Management in Protected Cultivation

W. Verkerke, J. Janse, M. Kersten

tomato, fruit, taste, mealiness, sweetness, juiciness, method

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1998.456.22