Correlating physical and sensory texture measurements of hearts of palm in conserve

Abstract A study correlating the physical and sensory texture measurements of hearts of palm in conserve was carried out with a view to establishing an instrumental texture standard for this product. One hundred hearts of palm sticks in conserve from different brands, 50 of Açaí and 50 of Pupunha, were cut in half cross wise. One of the halves was used for the sensory evaluation and the other for the instrumental evaluation. Fifty consumers were instructed to bite each half-stick received in the crosswise direction and evaluate the hardness on a linear 10 cm scale and the acceptability of the hardness on a nine-point hedonic scale. The instrumental hardness was analyzed using the TA-XT2 texturometer. The Pearson correlation between the force required to cut the hearts of palm sticks and the acceptability of the hardness was negative and significant at p < 0.05, that is, the greater the force required to cut the stick, the less the consumer liked it. Considering that the maximum acceptable sensory hardness is 5.0 on the 10 cm scale, the maximum acceptable values for the physical measurements are: maximum force/area: 20.4 N/cm2 and mean force/area: 5.6 N/cm2.