Perfil sensorial de amêndoa de castanha de caju avaliado por análise descritiva quantitativa

Abstract

The cashew agroindustry occupies a prominent place in the Brazilian socioeconomic context and its main product is the cashew nut kernel (ACC). The main demand is still for whole, ivory- white, good-sized almonds. Embrapa has been developing early dwarf cashew clones with superior characteristics in terms of resistance to water stress, resistance to pests and diseases, and greater productivity. The quality of these almonds has been evaluated in terms of size, color, weight, and technological parameters, but data on the sensory quality of this food is not yet available. The objective of this work was to evaluate the sensory quality descriptors of almonds from cashew tree clones developed by Embrapa through Quantitative Descriptive Analysis. Almonds from clones Embrapa 50, Embrapa 51, BRS 189, BRS 226, BRS 265, BRS 274, BRS 275, CCP 1001, CCP 09, CCP 76. The development of the methodology for forming a trained sensory team began with an assessment of the candidates' normal taste and smell acuity (elimination stage). This was followed by team sessions to determine the descriptive terms with their reference samples and draw up the Sample Evaluation Sheet. The intensity of the attribute was defined using a 9 cm unstructured linear scale. The final team was selected through a triplicate test with 3 ACC samples. The team consisted of 8 members. The selected and trained team identified eight quality descriptors for appearance, aroma, flavor and texture: color, roughness, characteristic aroma of ACC, characteristic flavor of ACC, sweet taste, bitter taste, hardness and crispness. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (Anova), Tukey's Test, Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA), based on Pearson's correlation matrix. The clones evaluated by the trained sensory team showed distinct sensory characteristics, but the characteristic aroma descriptor of ACC did not present a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the evaluated clones. The almonds of clones BRS 226, CCP 1001 and BRS 189 presented sensory characteristics similar to CCP76, while the clone BRS 265 presented similar characteristics to CCP 1001. The other clones, BRS 274, BRS 275, Embrapa 50 and Embrapa 51, presented similar characteristics. However, the clone BRS 274 stood out with the most promising characteristics associated with the sensory quality of the almonds.