Exploring through CATA (Check-All-That-Apply) method the Italian consumers' perception towards off-season nectarine imported from Chile

The Chilean fresh nectarine industry is focused on proposing off-season fresh fruit on foreign markets. Chilean nectarines for European markets would require fruits that should be kept in cold chambers for up to 35 days, due to the transcontinental trip for reaching the market. Samples of 8 nectarine genotypes harvested in Chile between end of December and January 20th, were sent to Bologna, Italy for a consumer test to be conducted in February. The batch included some traditional varieties and some yellow, and white fleshed nectarines selected in the Chilean breeding program, for tolerance to long storage and transport. Participants were requested to indicate their habits and interests in consuming off-season fruits, then, for each sample, to execute a CATA (Check-All-That-Apply) test on visual and eating attributes, expressing also an overall liking evaluation. At the same time a trained panel, performed a descriptive analysis to compare consumer assessments with expert judges' evaluation. CATA results indicated that the most appreciated visual attributes were size, color intensity and brightness. As related to eating attributes, the most cited terms were sweetness, melting, juiciness and softness. The white fleshed nectarine 6B-168 recorded both the highest frequency of citation of attributes and the highest hedonistic evaluation (7.3). Other varieties as 'Andesneccuatro' and 'Andesnecuno', recorded positive evaluation thanks to their crunchiness. Consumers' CATA citations resulted in agreement with trained judges' evaluation, indicating the suitability of this method for reaching a reliable sensory characterization of fresh nectarines.