Consumers voice their fresh market strawberry preferences
The Oregon Strawberry Commission & Northwest Berry Foundation are trialing, evaluating, and taste testing promising day neutral and June bearing fresh market varieties. Having sound information on different varieties will provide growers with more opportunities to choose varieties that fit their farm and market needs. It will also encourage buyers to market the varieties that consumers preferred at the tastings.
Last month, we began the taste test portion of this project. Read on to learn about how consumers responded to four promising June bearing varieties.
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The Project
Go here to read more about the project and how the strawberry selections are being evaluated. Go here to read about when the trials were planted. Go here to read about how the plants held up over the winter.
The Taste Tests
In June, Ann Colonna (read a colorful article about her work here), Sensory Program Manager at the Food Innovation Center in Portland, OR, led the June bearing variety taste tests. Half the panelists completed a blind tasting. Their responses were compared to feedback from the other half of the panelists, who were given variety names as they tasted to determine if labels swayed overall scoring.
Test Locations: Food Innovation Center on June 14th and 15th, 2017, n=138 and New Seasons Markets (NE Arbor Lodge and SW Cedar Hills) on June 17th, 2017, n=185
June bearing varieties tested: Hood (as standard), Charm, Mary's Peak, and Puget Crimson.
In these tests, we saw day to day variance in the fruit, which explains some of the variation in the results from one location to another
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Preparing for the sensory tests at the Food Innovation Center in Portland, OR.
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June-bearing Variety Sensory Testing Results
From Ann Colonna, Food Innovation Center
For the in-house ratings at the Food Innovation Center (FIC), Puget Crimson and Mary’s Peak were rated statistically more appealing and higher in Overall Liking, Quality and Purchase Intent than the Charm and Hood varieties. At the New Seasons Market tests, the Puget Crimson and Hood were rated highest most preferred overall.
Overall Appearance liking of the strawberries was rated for all four varietals at both locations. For the FIC test, Puget Crimson and Mary’s Peak were rated statistically more appealing than the Charm and Hood varieties. At the New Seasons Market tests, Charm, Puget Crimson and Mary’s Peak were all liked and rated significantly more appealing than the Hoods.
At the FIC test, the Color of the Puget Crimson was rated highest in the attribute color liking, while at the off-site New Seasons Market test, it was the Charm that was liked most.
The Glossiness of the Mary’s Peak was most preferred (only asked at FIC).
The Size of the Mary’s Peak was most preferred at the FIC test, while the size of the Mary’s Peak, Puget Crimson and Charm were all well liked at the New Seasons Market tests. The Hoods were rated both times as somewhat to much too small on average.
The Aroma of the Hoods was liked significantly more than the other three varieties at the New Seasons Market tests and was rated highest (though not significantly higher than the Charm variety) at the FIC test.
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At the FIC test, the Mary’s Peak and Puget Crimson were liked significantly more than the other two varieties in the attribute Overall Liking and Flavor Liking. At the New Seasons Market tests, the Hood and Puget Crimson were liked significantly more than the Charm and Mary’s Peak in these two important attributes.
At the FIC test, the Mary’s Peak and Puget Crimson were rated closest to ideal in the attribute Sweetness. The Charm variety was rated as not sweet enough on average. The Hood and Puget Crimson were the two that were rated closest to ideal sweetness at the New Seasons Market tests. The Charm, again, was rated as not sweet enough.
Mary’s Peak was rated closest to ideal in Tartness liking at the FIC test, while the Puget Crimson was most ideal for the New Seasons Market tests.
The Puget Crimson and Mary’s Peak were ideal in Juiciness compared to the Charm which were too dry, mealy and the Hoods (too juicy). This attribute was asked at the FIC only.
The Firmness of the Puget Crimson was rated most ideal at both the FIC and New Seasons Market tests.
At the FIC test, the Puget Crimson and Mary’s Peak varieties were rated better than the average strawberry, while the Hoods were about average and the Charm below average. At the New Seasons Market tests, the Puget Crimson and Hood varieties were rated better than average. Both times the Charm was rated lowest.
The Puget Crimson and Mary’s Peak were rated highest in Purchase Intent at the FIC test. This is the most important question in the sensory test. At the New Seasons Market tests, the Puget Crimson and Hood were rated highest in Purchase Intent.
The Puget Crimson and Mary’s Peak were rated highest in Quality at the FIC test. At the New Seasons Market tests, the Puget Crimson and Hood were rated highest.
Roughly half of testers look for/notice specific varietals. About two thirds reported that they would pay more for specific varietals.
Of the 10 attributes listed, Appearance and Color were most important to consumers’ preferences for fresh strawberries.
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Keep Following This Project
Sign up for the Fresh Market Strawberry Bulletin: Get more updates and evaluation results from this project, and stay up-to-date about other important fresh market strawberry issues.
Stay tuned for the day-neutral variety taste tests : In August, Ann Colonna will be holding consumer taste tests for Albion (standard), Seascape, Aromas, Sweet Ann, and ORUS 3385-1.
Attend our workshop: Our Sept. 20, 2017 fresh market strawberry workshop (funded by industry sponsors) will include the evaluation results, as well as the next steps for Oregon fresh market strawberries. We're still searching for industry sponsors for this event, so contact Jo Peterson for more information.
Stay in touch: Call or email the Northwest Berry Foundation office (503-285-0908) with any questions or comments. Also, follow us on Facebook.
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