No abstract

In rice-consuming countries, specific varieties are recognized as premium, "gold standard" varieties, while others are recognized as being superior but second best, despite being identical using the current suite of tools to evaluate quality. The objectives of this study were to determine if there are distinguishable differences in sensory properties of premium and second best varieties and whether these differences are common to premium varieties. Color, an important sensory property, was determined on the raw and cooked rice using a colorimeter. As raw rice, some of the premium varieties were whiter than their second best counterparts while others were not. However, when cooked, with two exceptions, the premium varieties were of the same or greater whiteness than their counterparts. A trained sensory panel employed descriptive sensory analysis, an objective tool, to characterize and analytically measure the flavor (aromatics, taste, mouthfeel) and texture of premium and second best varieties collected from nine rice-consuming countries. Sweet taste, popcorn aroma/ flavor, and water-like metallic mouthfeel showed significant differences in intensity between the premium-second best variety pairs. Slickness, roughness, and springiness were the major traits that distinguished the texture of varieties. Quality evaluation programs do not routinely measure these texture and flavor traits, but the fact that they distinguished the varieties in most pairs indicates that their measurement should be added to the suite of grain quality tests in the development of new higher-yielding, stresstolerant varieties. The incorporation of premium quality will ensure that quality is no impediment to widespread adoption leading to enhanced productivity and food security.

: Maintaining flavor, aroma, microbial, and postharvest quality after processing and throughout the distribution chain is a major challenge facing the fresh‐cut fruit industry. Flavor and aroma are most often the true indicators of shelf‐life from the consumer's point of view. Changes in post‐cutting sensory attributes during freshcut storage at 4 °C in cantaloupe harvested at 4 distinct maturities (¼, frac12;, frac34;, and full slip) were subsequently investigated. Trained descriptive sensory panelists were used in a 2‐y study to assess sensory differences after 0, 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 14 d. A texture analyzer was also used in an attempt to verify textural properties revealed by the panelists. The V4‐slip harvested fruit were firmer than the other 3 maturities, and ¼‐slip cubes retained the most firmness through freshcut storage. Correspondingly, fruity and sweet aromatic flavor were significantly less intense in the ¼‐slip cubes compared with ½‐ and ¾‐slip maturities. Sweet taste was consistently significantly less intense in the ¼‐slip cubes than the other maturities during the entire storage period. Hardness was more intense (harder) in ¼‐slip cubes during 0 to 9 d. This trend was almost identical in the instrumental texture determinations for the force and slope at the 1st bioyield point of the force deformation curves. Meanwhile, ¼‐slip cubes were significantly less intense than the other maturities in surface wetness and moisture release on day 0 and throughout storage. It appears that fresh‐cut cantaloupe cubes with desirable sensorial attributes can be prepared with fruit when harvested ½ slip but not from ¼‐slip fruit.

Seedless triploid watermelons have increased in popularity since the early 1990s, and the demand for seedless fruit is on the rise. Sweetness and sugars are crucial breeding focuses for fruit quality. Volatiles also play an important role; yet, we found no literature for seedless varieties and no reports using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in watermelon. The objective of this experiment was to identify volatile and semivolatile compounds in five seedless watermelon varieties using carboxen divinylbenzene polydimethylsiloxane solid-phase microextraction (SPME) with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Fully ripe watermelon was squeezed through miracloth to produce rapid juice extracts for immediate headspace SPME GC-MS. Aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, and one furan (2-pentyl furan, a lipid oxidation product) were recovered. On the basis of total ion count peak area, the most abundant compounds in five varieties were 3-nonen-1-ol/(E,Z)-2,6-nonadienal (16.5-28.2%), (E)-2-nonenal (10.6-22.5%), and (Z)-6-nonenal (2.0-11.3%). Hexanal was most abundant (37.7%) in one variety (Petite Perfection) [corrected] The most abundant ketone was 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one (2.7-7.7%). Some sensory attributes reported for these compounds are melon, citrus, cucumber, orange, rose, floral, guava, violet, vegetable, green, grassy, herbaceous, pungent, fatty, sweet, and waxy. Identifying and relating these compounds to sensory attributes will allow for future monitoring of the critical flavor compounds in seedless watermelon after processing and throughout fresh-cut storage.