Analysis of different sweeteners in peach nectar: determination of ideal sweetness, equivalent sweetness, acceptance analysis and determination of the sensory profile

Author(s)

Juliana Maria Porto Cardoso

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos
• Defense date: 2007-06-07

Examining board members

Helena Maria André Bolini; Flavio Luis Schmidt; Rosamaria da Re; Marcelo Alexandre Prado

• Advisor: Helena Maria André Bolini

Abstract

Nowadays, consumers expect more pleasure from food as well as pleasant sensory characteristic s, such as taste, flavor, color and texture. On the other hand, food must be low in fat, sugar and calories, maintaining or increasing health and well being. With obesity as an epidemic and the increase of people¿s interest in food that provide health benefits, sweeteners have received special attention. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the behavior of the sweeteners aspartame, cyclamate/saccharin 2:1 blend, stevioside, sucralose and acesulfame ¿ K as sucrose¿s substitutes in peach nectar, a beverage widely consumed in Brazil. Determinations of ideal and equivalent sweetness, acceptance analysis, and determination of the sensory profile using a quantitative descriptive analysis and a time-intensity analysis were carried out. Acceptance and timeintensity analyses were carried out at two different temperatures (6 ± 2°C e 22 ± 2°C). The concentration defined as ideal by consumers for sucrose was 10%, while the equivalent concentrations were 0,054% for aspartame; 0,036% for cyclamate/saccharin 2:1 blend; 0,10% for stevioside; 0,016% for sucralose and 0,053% for acesulfame ¿ K. Sucrose samples were best accepted by consumers. Among the sweetener samples, sucralose and aspartame were best accepted, while acesulfame ¿ K and stevioside received the lowest grades. Comparing the results obtained in different temperatures, there were no statistical differences (p £ 0.05) among samples containing sweeteners, which might indicate that the product is well accepted at both temperatures. In the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis, the attributes: Yellow Color, Cloudy Aspect , Brightness, Visual Viscosity, Peach Aroma, Sweet Aroma, Herb Aroma, Peach Flavor, Sweetness, Bitterness, Herb Flavor, Sourness, Residual Bitterness, Residual Sweetness, Astringency, and Body were defined as descriptors of the peach nectar. Stevioside and acesulfame ¿ K stood out for their bitterness and residual bitterness. Aspartame and stevioside showed high intensity of sweetness and residual sweetness. In the time-intensity analysis, sucralose was the most similar to sucrose in the time-intensity curves for sweetness at both temperatures. Aspartame and stevioside differed from the others, because they had shown a long duration for sweetness, characterizing the presence of residual sweetness. The time-intensity analysis for bitterness showed that only aspartame, cyclamate/saccharin 2:1 blend, stevioside and acesulfame ¿ K trigger this stimulus. In both temperatures, stevioside showed the highest intensities of the parameters maximum intensity, area under the curve and total duration of the stimulus. Temperature influenced the time-intensity profile in relation to bitterness for all sweeteners in almost all attributes, being more evident for acesulfame ¿ K (AU)