Physico-chemical and sensory attributes in conjunction with multivariate analysis of two potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars after 90 days of storage: an exploratory authentication study

Abstract

Two cultivars of potato (Spunta and Agria), were studied in terms of their physico-chemical and sensory characteristics. These cultivars were cultivated in three geographical regions of Greece (Macedonia, North Greece; Thessaly, Central Greece; Peloponnese, South Greece) and were stored for 90 days after harvesting. The physico-chemical characteristics of the tubers determined, were pH, total acidity, firmness, dry matter and content in N, in K, P, Cu, Mn, Zn and Fe. The sensory characteristics measured for raw tubers of potato after storage, were skin colour, skin brightness, internal colour, surface roughness, odour intensity, moistness, surface wrinkling and stains while the sensory characteristics measured for the boiled tubers of potato were odour intensity, moistness, special taste, sweet taste, aftertaste persistence, metal taste, pastiness, mastication, flavour intensity, elasticity and overall acceptability. The application of multivariate analysis (principal component analysis, cluster analysis and discriminant analysis), revealed a variety of relations between the various parameters and resulted in satisfactory grouping either per geographical region or per cultivar.