Indicators for Assessing the Sweetness of Coconut Water
Keywords:
soluble solids content, titratable acidity, BrimA, quality indexAbstract
Ensuring the desired sweetness of coconut water is crucial for consumer satisfaction. In this study, a total of 290 young aromatic coconuts were analyzed for soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), flesh thickness (FT), and sensory qualities. We also introduced the concept of BrimA, representing the difference between SSC and TA as an indicator of the flavor of coconut water. Our correlation analysis revealed that sweetness in coconut water was significantly correlated with BrimA (r=0.70) followed by SSC/TA (r = 0.54), TA (r = -0.51) and SSC (r = 0.41). Stepwise discriminant analysis (SDA) was performed to develop a model with optimally selected classifying variables. The overall classification accuracy of the SDA model for predicting sweetness was 70.78 %. Regarding BrimA and TA parameters as the greatest significant contributors of this coconut sweetness, the 'not sweet' samples were correctly predicted at 61%, while the 'sweet' samples were correctly predicted at 78 %.
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