12.26
Klik : ( Environmental Influences on the Sensory Quality of Asparagus officinalis L. )
Keywords: Asparagus officinalis L., sensory quality, environmental and genotypic
influences, aroma, variability
Abstract
For asparagus the most important competition factors are sensory quality
and freshness. The image of asparagus to be a vegetable of highest palatability
increasingly needs to be justified and demonstrated. Therefore the aim of the study
was to quantify the impact of cultivars, location, harvest date and year on the
asparagus flavour quality. The varieties ‘Huchels Alpha’, ‘Thielim’ and ‘Vulkan’
were harvested from 2000 to 2002 at three locations in Germany. The material for
the sensory and the analytical analyses was sampled four times over the cropping
period. The human-sensory and the aroma analyses were carried out one day after
sampling. A long-time trained panel carried out the human-sensory evaluations in
two replications. The sensory parameters evaluated were subdivided into the direct
odour (typical, sweetish, pungent, musty, earthy), the taste (bitter, sweet, typical,
tasteless), the mouth sensation (metallic, astringent, crisp, tough, stringy), the
aftertaste (bitter, astringent) and the non-dominant, occasionally appearing
sensations (cake, bread, potato, soup, stinky, lemon-like, burnt, buttery, sour-like,
flowery). Significant effects of variety, location, year and harvest date on the sensory
impression and the aroma compounds could be found. The interactions of the main
influencing factors are remarkable and they have to be considered in discussions
and interpretations of sensory results.
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