Instrumental and sensory analysis of eating quality of peaches and nectarines

The influence of flesh firmness on consumer acceptanceand its relationship with total soluble solidsconcentration (TSSC), titratable acidity (TTA) andsensory analysis was studied to understand their interactionin determining acceptance judgments, for differentorganoleptic typologies of peaches and nectarines.The investigation was carried out during summer2006 on fruit of ‘September Sun’ and ‘Sweet September’(low acid) peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch),and ‘Maria Dolce’ (low acid) and ‘Venus’ nectarines(Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, var. nucipersica). Sensorydescriptors for peaches and nectarines were Fleshfirmness, Sweetness, Sourness, Aroma, and Acceptability.The panel was able to discriminate differentfruit ripening stages, in terms of fruit firmness, aromaand sweetness and to relate those parameters to fruitacceptability. ‘Maria Dolce’, ‘Venus’ and ‘SeptemberSun’ fruit ranging from 3.2 to 5.3 kg cm–2 of flesh firmness,were accepted by the panel, while acceptabilityof low-acid fruit of ‘Sweet September’ was related totheir aroma and firmness. Values of flesh firmnesshigher than 5.5 kg cm–2 always resulted in unacceptablefruit quality.