Consumer testing of boiled plantain in rural and urban areas in Cameroon. Understanding the drivers of trait preferences and the development of multi-user RTB product profiles, WP1, Step 4

In order to understand consumers' demand for boiled plantain quality characteristics, and provide WP2 with relevant information pertaining to the sensory characteristics associated to boiled plantain samples, consumer testing was carried out in some localities of the West and Littoral regions of Cameroon. Plantain cultivars used during this activity were all harvested from CARBAP's experimental plot in Njombé and included: Batard, Big ebanga and CARBAP K74 (a plantain-like hybrid). These varieties were processed on-field as recommended in activity 4. Prior to consumption, they were respectively coded as 194, 928 and 215. A total of 300 consumers tested the samples during this activity. In each locality, the three boiled plantain samples were presented before each consumer in a random order and their assessment of the overall liking, JAR (“Just About Right”) and CATA (“Check-All-That-Apply”) tests of these samples were recorded. Results showed that consumers liked samples 194 and 928 with mean overall likings of 7.0 and 6.9 respectively, corresponding to “Like moderately”. Conversely, sample 215 was liked least with a mean overall liking of 5.8 (“Like Slightly”). More than 60% of consumers scored attributes such as “colour”, “humidity”, “texture in the mouth” and “sweet taste” as JAR for the most liked boiled plantain samples (194 and 928). On the other hand, about 40% of consumers perceived the colour of sample 215 as “too light”, while more than 60% found its taste “not sweet enough”. Principal Component Analysis of CATA data explained 100% of the variance of the sensory characteristics. High quality characteristics of boiled plantain mainly include: 'good plantain odour', 'plantain taste', 'smooth plantain', 'firm plantain', 'mealy' and 'well-cooked plantain'. Low quality characteristics of boiled plantain on the other hand are mostly: 'soft plantain', 'immature plantain' and 'taste of sap'. This study suggests that characteristics such as 'plantain taste', 'plantain odour', 'plantain colour' and 'plantain firmness' have to be taken into consideration for varietal improvement.