Sensory analysis of pansies subjected to different post-harvest technologies: high hydrostatic pressure, alginate coating and crystallisation
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The authors acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science
and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for the financial support provided
by the research grant SFRH/BD/95853/2013 to Luana Fernandes
and FCT/MEC for the financial support to REQUIMTE (NORTE-
01-0145-FEDER-LAQV (UIDB/50006/2020)) research unit through
national funds and co-financed by the FEDER, within the PT2020
Partnership Agreement. Furthermore, the authors are grateful to the
Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER
under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/
AGR/00690/2020).
The present study aimed to investigate consumers’ knowledge about edible flowers and post-harvest technologies through an online survey. Simultaneously, the effects of some post-harvest technologies (high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), alginate coating and crystallisation) on sensory characteristics of pansies were
evaluated in loco by chefs and consumers. Most of the participants recognised edible flowers as a food component and had a favourable opinion about them. 79% were willing to pay more to acquire a product with a longer shelf-life. The sensory profiles of chefs and consumers were different; however, the scores for HHP were similar, except for the overall acceptance (p=0.025). The chefs rated the HHP pansies with the highest scores for visual appearance (p=0.015), texture (p=0.032) and overall acceptance (p=0.001). The consumers did not find significant differences in overall acceptance between treatments. So, this work gives important information about the consumers’ opinion of edible flowers that can help the producers.
