Genotypic effects on sensory profiles of drinks made from juice of red raspberries (Rubus idaeus L.)

Juice drinks made from 31 red raspberry genotypes (Rubus idaeus L.) represe nting a cross section of the germplasm from the breeding programme at the S cottish Crop Research Institute and one culitvar from North America were ev aluated using methods previously applied to blackcurrant sensory evaluation . These sensory methods significantly differentiate among red raspberry gen otypes for appearance, aroma and flavour of the juice drinks. Red colour, r ichness and natural were important discriminators for appearance. Overall i ntensity, fruity, sweet, floral, perfumed, and natural were the important d iscriminators of aroma and flavour. Aroma and flavour were also highly corr elated (r = 0.89; p less than or equal to 0.001). Aftertaste and mouth-feel were less important discriminators possibly as a result of prior selection for acceptable fresh-fruit characteristics in these red raspberry genotype s or the effects of processing. The discriminating attributes should be use ful characters for the assessment of genotypic variation and selection of s uperior juice drink genotypes. (C) 1999 Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.