Domestic apple cultivars: Sensory descriptions and consumer responses

Transcription

1 Domestic apple cultivars: Sensory descriptions and consumer responses Lectio praecursoria Laila Seppä

2 In Project Domestic apple varieties: Sensory attributes and consumer acceptance Hanke Kotimaisten omenalajikkeiden aistittavan laadun kehittäminen (Three harvest years) Funded by Ministry of Agriculture University of Helsinki Food and Environmental Sciences, SensoryScience Lab Professor Hely Tuorila PhDStudent Laila Seppä Agrifood Research Finland (MTT) MTT Puutarhatuotanto, Piikkiö Professor Risto Tahvonen

3 Why Goals of the thesis 1. Sensory profiles for Finnish apples 2. Information about consumer segments, and their iindividual apple preferences and appreciations.

4 Why domestic apples? Early, mid and late season cultivars (Summer, autumn and winter cultivars) Traditional cultivars New cultivars with enhanced properties Innovative cultivation techniques Important to local economy & farming 6 % domestic4.8 million kg (2011), Aland Islands: 65 % 1990s tn Global warming -> Cultivation area increasing BUT: scientific knowledgeof their sensory and consumer propertieswas lacking

5 Omenan viljelytaito Apple cultivation and grafting Omenan alkukoti USA Malus domestica Origin of apples Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Western China Malus sieversii (Historiallinen koulukartasto WSOY 1976)

6 Villiomenapuu wild appletree Malus sylvestris (The world encyclopedia of trees 2003)

7 Omena legendoissa, saduissa ja uskonnossa Apple in legends, fairy tales and religion An apple a day keeps the doctor away (19 th Wales) Apple of one s eye ( silmäterä ) Finnish Kalevala: Apple used as a synonym of bear (taboo) Otsonen, metsän omena (Walt Disney) The Bible: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil does not say, what fruit they are in religious art usually depicted as apple

8 Mythology Scandinavian, Germanian and Icelandic legends: golden apples: source of eternal life for the gods may have been oranges Arthurian legends: apples trees in Avalon Greek: Throwing an apple was considered a proposal to marriage Troyan war started with apples (Heta, Afrodite, Athene) Odysseia: several scenes with apples Herkules stealing golden apples

9 Omenoita luvun kirkkotaiteessa Apples in 17-18th century Finnish churches Aatami ja Eeva Kolminaisuuden tuomioistuimen edessä, Pöytyän kirkko noin J.N. Backman: Kruunupyyn kirkko, , yksityiskohta

10 Omena tulee Suomeen - Apples in Finland since 15-16th century Finland was part of Sweden Law1347: it is forbidden to destroy a branch from a fruit tree In Vyborg 1440? In Turku early 16th century? Noblemen, merchants, military, clergy had fruit gardens (Pietari Brahe, Fleming, Kurki, Bonde) keen gardeners 1830 over 4000 fruit trees Occasionally bad year destroyed most of the trees (Historiallinen koulukartasto WSOY 1976)

11 Kasvuvyöhykkeet - Climate zones Based on DD5, cumulative temperature over base temperature (5 C) -> basis for early, mid and late season apples (DD5 requirement varies between ) (Finnish Meteorological Institute 2013) (Blomgvist 2009)

12 Omenan taimi: varttaminen grafting Apple trees (early May)

13 Uudet lajikkeet, esimerkki Breeding new crosses (with DD5) Lobo (1302) Huvitus (1026) Petteri (1120) Sandra (1195) Heta (1200) Pekka (1230) Tobias (1235)

14 Sensory science and methodology

15 What is sensory science? Studying a product using senses > multimodal perception Sensory properties guide our choises Choises have consequenses: health, well-being, economics Methods used: Analytical methods What a product is like Consumer methods How much the product is liked Why?

16 What makes the taste of an apple? Our senses have many dimensions (interactions) 1) 2) 3) Appearance Hearing Smelling 4) 5) 6) Tasting Chemosense Total perception Tuorila et al. 2007

17 Challenges when studying apples What is apple quality? EU regulations (85/2004) Colour, size, free of defects Commercial quality Sensory quality Variation in apple properties cultivar harvest year place of origin (soil, water, microclimate) individual differences (pollination, site on the tree) harvesting storage maturity, ripeness Standard apple?

18 Analytical Methods Over 20 cultivars Traditional and new cultivars Descriptive analysis Trained panel (n=11-14) Sensory profiles (2009) Shelf-life (2010) Effect of harvest year ( )

19 Consumer methods Repeated liking and choices (three times) consumer lexicon clustering 2010, n=108 Pleasantness and willingness to pay Experimental auction 2011, n=118