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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Healthy Processed Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #325188
Title: Consumer evaluation of persimmon (Diospyros kaki) varieties for a chip-style product (abstract)

Author
item Woods, Rachelle
item LAFOND, SEAN - University Of California
item Milczarek, Rebecca
item Preece, John
item Breksa, Andrew

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/24/2016
Publication Date: 7/20/2016
Citation: Woods, R., Lafond, S.I., Milczarek, R.R., Preece, J.E., Breksa III, A.P. 2016. Consumer evaluation of persimmon (Diospyros kaki) varieties for a chip-style product (abstract). Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting - Chicago, IL - July 16-19, 2016.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Asian persimmons (Diospyros kaki) are grown across the state of California, but the availability of this fruit outside the growing area and harvest season is limited. A dried, chip-style product would extend the geographic area and timeframe in which persimmon growers could sell their fruit. Persimmons come in 3 astringency types (astringent, nonastringent, and pollination-variant) and dozens of varieties, and the suitability of the various astringency types and varieties for a chip-style product has not been explored. The objectives of this work were to identify the best persimmon varieties for making this dried product and determine if other fruit characteristics (including astringency type) are predictive of consumer liking of the dried product. Dried chip-style products prepared from 23 varieties of persimmon were evaluated by a consumer panel. A balanced incomplete block design was devised to enable ranking of 5 samples by each of 150 consumers. Using the Durbin test, the significant differences (p < 0.05) among the average ranks of the samples were determined. This approach resulted in 10 samples (representing 9 varieties) being the most preferred and 7 samples (representing 7 varieties) being the least preferred, with the balance of the samples falling in the middle of the set. Via a chi-squared test with simulated p-values (p < 0.05), chips made from nonastringent persimmons were less likely to be evaluated as the lowest ranked sample (5th place) and more likely to be ranked in 2nd place, compared to chips made from astringent and pollination-variant persimmons. However, a consumer’s most liked persimmon chip was not more likely to be from any specific astringency type. This work will enable persimmon growers to focus on only the best varieties for drying. The top varieties identified by this study were Chocolate, Fuyu, Izu, Jiro, Lampadina, Lycopersicon, Maekawa Jiro, Nishimura Wase, and Yotsumizo. This set includes astringent, nonastringent, and pollination-variant varieties. While nonastringent persimmons were less likely to be lowest ranked and more likely to be higher ranked, astringency type was not found to be a predictor of a variety’s inherent suitability for drying into a chip-style product.