Mapping the Preferences of Adult and Child Consumers for California-grown Mandarins

Abstract

Citrus consumers from Northern California—231 adults (ages 18–77 years) and 98 children (ages 8–12 years)—rated their overall liking (OL) and liking for appearance, flavor, and texture, as well as adequacy of sweetness, sourness, firmness, and juiciness for eight commercially available California mandarins and a tangelo. Descriptive analysis was performed on fruit from the same batch. Three adult and two child preference clusters were identified. Most of the adult and child consumers preferred samples that were high in sweetness, peelability, mandarin aroma, and firmness of fruit flesh. Sour fruit was substantially preferred by 23% of the adult consumers. Liking of appearance showed the lowest correlations with liking of flavor, texture, and OL. This work confirms past research on the necessity of sweet, sour, and peelable fruit for consumers. The findings presented here also suggest that consumer clustering can help to demystify research into preferences for mandarins and their hybrids.