Spotting the sensory preferences of artichokes to improve the consumption of this functional food

Abstract - Given the greater varietal supply of the globe artichoke and evaluating its use for human consumption, it is important to carry out market positioning work, including the recognition of the newly available cultivars. Sensory analysis comes up as an important instrument to assess the potential of insertion of artichoke into the market. Within this perspective, the aim of the present study was to determine the sensorial quality characteristics of three globe artichoke cultivars produced in the Rosario´s Horticultural Belt and associated with the preference of consumers. The cultivars were Opal, Madrigal and Romanesco. For sensory evaluation, the method called CATA (Check All That Apply) was used. The results of the CATA test were analyzed using multivariate statistics, applying the Correspondence Analysis. The most distinguishing elements between artichokes were the color and aroma. When associating these results with which was the artichoke that consumers liked the most, it was observed that the Romanesco obtained the best rating. Consumers preferred sweet and tender artichokes. This information could guide the production strategies of the horticulturists to offer cultivars that meet these characteristics