Sensory functionality of extra-virgin olive oil in vegetable foods assessed by Temporal Dominance of Sensations and Descriptive Analysis

Current methods used to classify extra-virgin olive oils into sensory quality categories involve evaluation of oils on their own and thus do not take into account the actual conditions that consumers often experience them, that is, mixed with other foods. Descriptive Analysis (DA) and Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) methods were used to assess the impact of two Italian extra-virgin olive oils with different sensory properties (oil A from Tuscany and oil B from Garda lake region) on the perceived sensory profiles of pureed beans and tomatoes. Both descriptive data and TDS curves showed that the addition of olive oils strongly influenced the sensory properties of tomato and bean samples by modifying the intensity and the dominance rate of their characteristic attributes (suppression of sourness and watery character of tomato and suppression of metallic flavour and creaminess in bean samples) and/or by contributing new sensations, peculiar for each oil (bitterness and grassy flavour for oil A and unripe fruit flavour for oil B). Modifications of the sensory properties of tomatoes induced by oils also affected consumers’ hedonic responses in terms of liking and perceived freshness. Furthermore, no relationships have been found between liking and freshness ratings for oil and those reported for the combination of oil with tomato or bean purees.

► Sensory profile of food/extra-virgin olive oil combinations was evaluated by DA and TDS.
► Extra-virgin olive oil significantly modifies sensory properties and acceptance of food.
► Consumer responses to extra-virgin olive oils do not relate to those for combinations.