Analysis of association of sensory and laboratory assessments for quality and consumer acceptability of steamed East Africa highland bananas.

BACKGROUND: The relevance of several characteristics for the acceptability of steamed East Africa bananas (matooke) was assessed using consumer-preferred characteristics, the overall liking scores, check-all-that-apply (CATA) and the Just About Right scale. The study was conducted in rural and urban locations in three banana growing regions of Uganda. Two landraces and two hybrids were processed into matooke. Twelve trained panellists evaluated color, taste and texture sensory characteristics. RESULTS: Consumers scored matooke from landraces as the most liked. The CATA test showed that the most important characteristics were: smooth mouthfeel, soft to the touch, not sticky, moldable, deep yellow color, attractive, good matooke taste and smell. Principal component analysis confirmed that most of the preferred sensory characteristics were associated with the local genotypes, whereas the less preferred characteristics were associated with hybrids. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive correlations between the consumer assessed characteristics, hardness by touch, softness to touch and yellowness, as well as quantitative laboratory characteristics (moldable, hardness by touch, softness and yellowness) of the steamed matooke. Color assessed by consumers was strongly correlated with the laboratory-assessed color indicators. CONCLUSION: The strong associations observed between laboratory-assessed and consumer-based characteristics (moldable by touch and yellowness) suggest the possibility of predicting consumer characteristics using quantitative laboratory sensory assessments. Matooke taste as assessed by consumer panel is strongly associated with smooth texture and deep yellow color, which were the characteristics associated with landraces in the laboratory sensory assessment. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

The East African highland cooking bananas 'Matooke' preferences of farmers and traders: Implications for variety development.

'Matooke' is a staple food made from Highland cooking bananas in the Great Lakes region of East Africa. Genetic improvement of these bananas for resistance to pests and diseases has been a priority breeding objective. However, there is insufficient information on fruit quality characteristics that different users prefer, resulting in sub-optimal adoption of new varieties. This study identified matooke characteristics preferred by farmers and traders, using survey data from 123 farmers, 14 focus group discussions and 40 traders. Gender differences were considered. The main characteristics that were found to drive variety preferences were agronomic (big bunch, big fruits) and quality (soft texture, good taste, good aroma, yellow food). There were minimal geographical and gender differences for trait preferences. Quality characteristics need to be defined in terms of physical-chemical underpinnings so that breeding programmes can apply accurate high-throughput systems, thereby improving adoption and impact of new banana varieties.