SENSORY EVALUATION OF WALNUT FRUIT

The paper provides an in-depth examination of the sensory differences between cultivars of walnut fruit (Juglans regia L.) from different co untries. Eighteen samples, belonging to three clonal cultivars, plus s ome other genetic selections, collected from Jive European countries ( France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain) were analyzed for their sen sory characteristics by a panel trained in Descriptive Analysis (DA). Fifteen descriptors were selected to describe the fruits, covering the following attributes: external appearance of the shell and kernel, co lour, visual, manual and oral texture, taste and flavour. Principal Co mponent Analysis (PCA) adequately reduced the multidimensional structu re of the data and distinguished the regions of origin of the walnut s amples more effectively than the cultivars. Generalized Procrustes Ana lysis (GPA) was also included to describe relationships between sample s and to evaluate assessor performance. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd