The Dept. of Horticulture & Natural Resources, Kansas State Univ., 22201 West Innovation Drive, Olathe, KS, 66061, USA.
The Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health, Kansas State Univ., 22201 West Innovation Drive, Olathe, KS, 66061, USA.
J Food Sci. 2019 Aug;84(8):2261-2268. doi: 10.1111/1750-3841.14710. Epub 2019 Jul 17.
The consumer demand for locally grown fresh produce is continuously increasing in the United States. The high tunnel systems have been successfully utilized by small acreage growers for local production. Consumers are typically assessing appearance, freshness, flavor and aroma when purchasing produce. A common perception is that locally grown produce tastes better than nonlocal. However, there is not much evidence for supporting this claim. The objective of this study was to identify consumer acceptability and the sensory characteristics/differences of locally grown spinach in open field or in high tunnel and nonlocal commercially grown spinach. Spinach, Spinacia oleracea cv. "Corvair" was grown in open field and in high tunnel at Kansas State Univ. Olathe Horticulture Research and Extension Center (OHREC) in spring 2017 and the commercially grown spinach was purchased at a local retail store. A consumer study (n = 205) was conducted at Kansas State Univ., Olathe campus, and a descriptive sensory analysis was conducted by a highly trained descriptive analysis panel in the Center for Sensory Analysis and Consumer Behavior at Kansas State Univ., Manhattan campus, in spring 2017. The consumer test showed that high tunnel spinach scored significantly higher in overall liking (P < 0.0001), flavor liking (P < 0.0001), and texture liking (P < 0.05) when compared to open field and store purchased spinach. Descriptive analysis showed that locally grown spinach had higher intensity of attributes that indicate premium quality, such as green color and green/spinach flavors. Our results indicate that locally grown spinach was preferred from the consumers for its high organoleptic quality. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Locally grown spinach demonstrated high intensity in a set of sensory attributes that suggest a product with premium organoleptic quality. Correspondingly to these results, consumers liked spinach produced locally in high tunnels the most. The results of this study can be used for developing marketing strategies that are aiming specifically to the consumer niche that is seeking fresh produce of high organoleptic quality.
美国消费者对本地种植的新鲜农产品的需求持续增长。小面积种植者成功地利用高棚系统进行本地生产。消费者在购买农产品时通常会评估外观、新鲜度、味道和香气。人们普遍认为本地种植的农产品比非本地种植的农产品味道更好。然而，没有太多证据支持这一说法。本研究的目的是确定消费者对本地种植的菠菜在露地或高棚和非本地商业种植的菠菜的可理解性和感官特征/差异。菠菜，Spinacia oleracea cv。“Corvair”于 2017 年春季在堪萨斯州立大学奥萨托校区的露地和高棚中种植，并在当地零售店购买商业种植的菠菜。在堪萨斯州立大学奥萨托校区进行了一项消费者研究（n = 205），并在堪萨斯州立大学感官分析和消费者行为中心由一个经过高度训练的描述性分析小组进行了描述性感官分析，该中心位于曼哈顿校区，2017 年春季。消费者测试表明，与露地和商店购买的菠菜相比，高棚菠菜在整体喜好（P < 0.0001）、风味喜好（P < 0.0001）和质地喜好（P < 0.05）方面得分显著更高。描述性分析表明，本地种植的菠菜具有更高的属性强度，表明其具有优质品质，例如绿色和菠菜风味。我们的结果表明，本地种植的菠菜因其高感官质量而受到消费者的青睐。实用程序：本地种植的菠菜在一组感官属性中表现出高强度，这些属性表明产品具有优质的感官质量。相应地，消费者最喜欢在高棚中本地生产的菠菜。本研究的结果可用于制定专门针对寻求高感官质量新鲜农产品的消费者利基市场的营销策略。
