Instrumental and sensory quality characteristics of blueberry fruit from twelve cultivars

We compared the instrumental and sensory quality characteristics of blueberry fruit from ten highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) cultivars, Chanticleer, Weymouth, Hannah's Choice, Duke, Bluecrop, Coville, Berkeley, Bluegold, Elliott and Lateblue and two rabbiteye (Vaccinium virgatum Aiton) cultivars, Coastal and Montgomery, grown in New Jersey. Cultivars varied in sensory intensity and acceptability scores. Highbush cultivars, Coville and Hannah's Choice, scored highest among the cultivars in sensory scores for intensity of blue color, juiciness, sweetness and blueberry-like flavor and for acceptability of appearance, color, fruit size, sweet/tart balance, flavor and overall eating quality. In contrast, rabbiteye cultivars, Coastal and Montgomery, and the highbush cultivars, Elliott and Weymouth, scored lowest among the cultivars in sensory scores for intensity of bursting energy, skin toughness, texture during chewing, juiciness, and blueberry-like flavor and for acceptability of appearance, color, fruit size, flavor and overall eating quality. Analytical quality characteristics of surface color, size, compression firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), pH, titratable acidity (TA), SSC/TA ratio, and aromatic volatile concentration also varied among cultivars, but no instrumental measurement adequately predicted consumer acceptability scores. The overall eating quality of blueberry fruit was best correlated with flavor scores followed by sensory scores for intensity of juiciness, bursting energy and sweetness and for acceptability of appearance.