Sensory evaluation of walnut: An interlaboratory study

This work summarizes an interlaboratory study on full sensory profiling des igned with the aim of finding some key attributes relevant to describe the sensory quality of walnuts. The study compared descriptive sensory profilin g by different laboratories in different countries (Spain, France and Italy ) Three trained panels in those European countries in the characterization of walnuts were used. Samples of walnuts belonging to different cultivars w ere harvested from experimental fields and some commercial lots. Multivaria te methods (generalized procrustes analysis and varclus procedure) of analy sis were used for extracting useful sensory information about the products and the variability between the panels. The descriptive profiles generated by the panels independently showed some analogies and provided similar prod uct classification.