Evaluation of the Acceptability of Cashew Apple Jam in Cambodia

<p>This study aimed to evaluate the acceptability of cashew apple jams based on a sensory evaluation test in Cambodia. Sensory evaluation tests for 2 types of cashew apple jams were conducted in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and in Setagaya, Japan, in September 2019 for 70 persons. The jam raw materials were cashew apple, sugar, low-methoxyl pectin, and citric acid. These materials were mixed, dissolved, condensed, and prepared to 50 °Brix sugar content while heating to approximately 80°C. The jam heated to 80°C was filled in a glass bottle. We called this sample a hot-pack jam. The hot-pack jam was reheated at 90°C for 20 min in a sterilization process. After 20 min, the jam was kept at room temperature for cooling with sterilization. We called the sample with the sterilization procedure a reheated jam. The color, sweetness, acidity, taste, flavor, jelly state, smoothness, and overall score of each sample were evaluated using a five-point hedonic scale (1: hate, 2: dislike, 3: neutral, 4: like, and 5: like very much) in the sensory test. The hot-pack and reheated jams were tested by 40 panelists of Cambodian students and faculty members at the Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia (RUA), and Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan (TUA). Thirty citizens evaluated only reheated jam at a supermarket in Phnom Penh. Almost all panelists answered that the reheated jam was sweeter than the hot-pack jam. Because the scores of both jams given by panelists ranged from 3 to 4, the cashew apple jam was considered to be acceptable and had a possibility to become a new processed food in Cambodia.</p>