Examination of celery cultivars for premium organoleptic properties and shelf life extension
Siew-Young Quek, Cheuk-Ying Selin Chan and Laurence D. Melton
Abstracts, 14th World Congress of Food Science & Technology, October 19-23 2008, Shanghai, China. 721 pages.
2008
บทคัดย่อ
Introduction: A New Zealand celery company wishes to select a new celery cultivar that is firm, sweet and has a long shelf life for export to Asia. For this purpose, three new celery cultivars (888, SS-SB/A and SS-SB/B) were bred and subjected to physicochemical and sensory testing in order to identify the superior variety. Materials and Methods: New celery cultivars (888, SS-SB/A and SS-SB/B) were obtained locally. A standard cultivar RI was used as a control. Tests performed including texture, water content, weigh loss over time, colour, enzymatic browning, chlorophyll content, sugar level, shelf life and sensory evaluation. Results and Discussion: The 888 cultivar deteriorated to the greatest extent after storage at 4°C for 21 days with respect to both pithiness and rots (p<0.05). Greenness was highest in 888 initially, but it decreased the most after storage (p<0.05). In terms of shelf life, SS-SB/A and SS-SB/B were superior to RI and 888, although the cut-ends also browned the faster in the former (p<0.05). The new cultivars were all superior to the control, RI, and SS-SB/A was the best in terms of mass and physical size (p<0.05). No differences were found between the cultivars in terms of hardness, water content, weight loss over time and mean total sugar content (1.080±0.064g100-1) (p<0.05). While RI and 888 were preferred by sensory panelists over SS-SB/A and SS-SB/B in the fresh state, SS-SB/B was favoured after storage at 4°C for 21 days (p<0.05).