Instrumental and sensory analysis of eating quality of peaches and nectarines

The influence of flesh firmness on consumer acceptance and its relationship with total soluble solids concentration (TSSC), titratable acidity (TTA) and sensory analysis was studied to understand their interaction in determining acceptance judgments, for different organoleptic typologies of peaches and nectarines. The investigation was carried out during summer 2006 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). Sensory descriptors for peaches and nectarines were Flesh firmness, Sweetness, Sourness, Aroma, and Acceptability. The panel was able to discriminate different fruit ripening stages, in terms of fruit firmness, aroma and sweetness and to relate those parameters to fruit acceptability. ‘Maria Dolce’, ‘Venus’ and ‘September Sun’ fruit ranging from 3.2 to 5.3 kg cm–2 of flesh firmness, were accepted by the panel, while acceptability of low-acid fruit of ‘Sweet September’ was related to their aroma and firmness. Values of flesh firmness higher than 5.5 kg cm–2 always resulted in unacceptable fruit quality.