DO APPLE VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCE TRAINED TASTERS' PERCEPTION?

In the context of sensory evaluation of apples, sensorists may ask in which condition they should work: under red or white light and pealing apples or not. This question is led by the possible impact of the colour of the peal on the organoleptic perception. The present work aims to identify the relative influence of apple appearance versus taste and texture on the perception of eight sensory attributes. Flavour and texture perceptions are not affected by apple appearance (colour of cultivar) except for the sourness. Cultivar colour generated taste expectation which modified the perception of sourness depending on the picture presented and on the initial acidity of the cultivar. Despite the training, panellists are still sensitive to such expectation errors which have to be taken into account for sensory evaluation procedures. So depending on the aim of the test, experimenters will decide if they want to integrate the impact of the colour or not in the sensory response.