ICBAS, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal; CIIMAR, Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Universidade do Porto, Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leixões, Av. General Norton de Matos, S/N, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal; SenseTest Lda, Rua Zeferino Costa, 341, 4400-345 Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
SenseTest Lda, Rua Zeferino Costa, 341, 4400-345 Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal; GreenUPorto, DGAOT, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua da Agrária, 747, 4485-646 Vairão, Vila do Conde, Portugal.
Food Res Int. 2021 Feb;140:109873. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109873. Epub 2020 Nov 3.
Sea urchin gonads are receiving increasing attention for their exclusive sensorial attributes. However, the sensory profile of this highly demanded gourmet product has not yet been well described, and it may potentially help enhancing the gonads' marketability and acceptability. The main goal of this study was to build a sensory profile of sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) gonads, to evaluate differences between sex, harvest location, as well as the impact of presentation on consumer acceptance. Sixty untrained panellists (regular consumers of seafood) were asked to evaluate eight samples of raw sea urchin gonads, divided by sex, harvest location and presentation (in a clear translucent glass bowl or inside a sea urchin test). The panellists evaluated overall liking and acceptance (Food Action Scale), followed by a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) ballot with a list of 38 sensory attributes divided into four dimensions: appearance (9), odour (8), texture (7) and taste (14), launched in Sense Gest. From a three-way ANOVA, no significant effect of sex, harvest location and presentation were identified for both liking and acceptance. However, a significant interaction between presentation and sex was identified: females with gourmet presentation were rated higher than females presented in a bowl; and males presented in a bowl were favoured in relation to gourmet presentation. Sensory profiling clearly separates gonads according to sex, with females being more appealing than males that presented a milky white fluid. Gonads were also separated according to the presentation method: the white background of the bowl seemed to highlight the orange colour of females; the gourmet presentation favoured the females in relation to the males, mainly because the male gonad colour and white-colour exudate were emphasized by the background of the sea urchin test. Moreover, the gourmet presentation in both sexes was correlated with a fresh, tropical and pleasant odour. This study concluded that sea urchin with an orange gonad and a sweet, fresh and tropical flavour is preferable, which will allow future nutritional research efforts to be focused on the enhancement of these gonad attributes.
海胆性腺因其独特的感官属性而受到越来越多的关注。然而，这种备受追捧的美食产品的感官特征尚未得到很好的描述，这可能有助于提高性腺的市场接受度。本研究的主要目的是构建海胆（Paracentrotus lividus）性腺的感官特征图谱，评估性别、收获地点以及呈现方式对消费者接受度的差异。
60 名未经培训的品评员（海鲜的常规消费者）被要求对 8 个生海胆性腺样本进行评价，这些样本按性别、收获地点和呈现方式（在透明玻璃碗或海胆壳内）进行划分。品评员评价了总体喜好度和接受度（食品行动量表），然后用感官Gest 中的 38 个感官属性列表（分为 4 个维度：外观、气味、质地和味道）进行了全选测试（CATA）投票。
从三因素方差分析结果来看，性别、收获地点和呈现方式对喜好度和接受度均无显著影响。然而，呈现方式和性别之间存在显著的交互作用：用美食呈现方式呈现的雌性海胆受到的评价更高；而用碗呈现的雄性海胆更受欢迎。
感官分析清楚地根据性别对性腺进行了区分，雌性比雄性更具吸引力，因为雌性呈现乳白色液体。性腺也根据呈现方式进行了区分：碗的白色背景似乎突出了雌性的橙色；与雄性相比，美食呈现方式更有利于雌性，主要是因为雄性性腺的颜色和白色分泌物在海胆壳的背景下更加突出。此外，美食呈现方式在两性中都与新鲜、热带和宜人的气味相关。
本研究得出结论，橙色性腺和甜美、新鲜、热带风味的海胆更受欢迎，这将使未来的营养研究工作集中在增强这些性腺属性上。
