Instrumental evaluation and influence of gender and/or age among consumers on textural preference of deep-fried peanuts.

Overview

The present study was conducted to evaluate instrumental properties, to perform micro-structural analysis, and to research textural preference among Japanese general consumers (n=330) using raw and deep-fried peanuts with varying frying periods (2, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 15min) at 150°C. The relationship between consumer preference and the influence of gender and/or age among consumers regarding textural preference were evaluated. With increased frying time, the force at failure (FF) decreased from 26N to 18N, and the distance at failure (DF) decreased from 2.4mm to 1.0mm indicating increasing brittleness. A cross-sectional micro-structural image indicated increasing heterogeneity during frying. The mean preference score for 4min-, 6min-, 9min-, 12min-, and 15min-fried peanuts (3.0 to 3.4) exceeded that for 2min-fried peanuts (2.5 to 2.6), indicating that consumers liked easily broken peanuts. The tendency was more remarkable for middle-aged and elderly subjects (30years old and older) than for young subjects (15 to 29years old). Thus, textural perception may play a more important role in textural preference for older individuals than for young individuals. The Mann-Whitney's U test indicated no difference in textural preference between genders.