Explaining Danish children's preferences for apples using instrumental, sensory and demographic/behavioural data

Abstract The relation between the children's preference for six apple cultivars, sensory/chemical/instrumental descriptions of these cultivars and children's reports about attitudes towards eating fruit and apples was analysed by preference mapping using partial least squares regression (PLSR). This was extended with a new technique for simultaneously modelling descriptors of the children and their attitudes to fruit in general. The children had different preferences for the appearance of the apple cultivars. However, the mean preference was highest for the red cultivars ‘Gala’ and ‘Jonagold’ followed by the preference of the green round shaped cultivar ‘Granny Smith’. Two minor groups preferred the appearance of either the wine-red ‘Gloster’ with high glossiness or the yellow-green ‘Mutsu’. High consensus between reporting ‘choosing red apples’ and high preferences for red apples, and reporting ‘choosing green apples’ and high preferences for green apples was found. For taste preference a large group preferred ‘Jonagold’ and ‘Elstar’ with high apple flavour and low crispness and hardness. A segment of children preferred ‘Granny Smith’ with high crispness, moistness and low apple flavour. Another two segments preferred either ‘Gala’ with high sweetness or ‘Gloster’. Interesting results were revealed between apple preferences and demographic (age, gender) and behavioural data (fruit choice) using a new PLS regression method.

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