Comparison between sensory and instrumental measurements for mealiness assessment in apples. A collaborative test

Definition and establishment of assessment procedures for mealiness of appl e fruits using sensory and instrumental measurements were performed on 'Bos koop', 'Cox's Orange Pippin' and 'Jonagold' samples with varying degrees of mealiness. The sensory procedure profiled mealiness as a loss of crispness , hardness, and juiciness, with an increase in the floury sensation in the mouth. High correlations between the sensory descriptors and instrumental p arameters was shown through principal component analysis. The instrumental procedures (confined compression of fruit cylinders and acoustic impulse re sponse) gave coefficients of determination for juiciness and crispness of 0 .85 and 0.71, respectively. This level of accuracy indicates the possibilit y of establishing several commercial mealiness stages las lack of crispness and of juiciness) based on instrumental analyses.