The sensory evaluation and the effect of radio frequency application on southern highbush blueberries

Abstract

With the increased in consumption of fresh blueberries in the last two decades, a new generation of cultivars has been released that were bred for mechanical harvesting. Sensory evaluation was conducted by trained panelists on various southern highbush blueberries (SHB) for taste, chemical feel, and texture characteristics. The only consistent finding at a significant difference level of p< 0.05 indicate that the “crispy” flesh selections were clearly crispier than the “melting” flesh counterparts and comparable in all other sensory The effects of radio frequency (RF) application on “melting” flesh and “crisp” flesh (SHB) on the improvement of juice yield and quality were investigated. The SHB were subjected to different radio frequency intensities. Juice yield increased for the both “melting” and “crisp” flesh SHB. When RF was applied to the SHB, it showed a statistically significant difference level of p <0.0001 of total phenolic content of the juice and demonstrated strong radical-scavenging activity.