摘要：Sweet potato is an important crop in the upper-east region of Ghana due to its adaptive ability on poor quality soils. It is a predominant snack and lunch for children during the peak harvest period, around October-February. This study assessed the influence of some sensory descriptors, with emphasis on the emerging influence of colour, on consumer taste preference. Boiled and fried samples of 7 cultivars were assessed by 57 taste panelists using a five-point hedonic score for taste, colour, flavour, texture, mouth-feel and overall acceptability. A further questionnaire on consumers’ first-choice preference and reasons for preference was administered. Kendall’s concordance analysis was performed to test the null hypothesis of independence between variables. Critical descriptors influencing consumer preference were orange-flesh (20.8%), mild flavour (20.8%), soft texture (20.8%) and hard texture (16.7%). Up to 24.1 and 21.8% of data variation when boiled and 24.2 and 28.5% when fried were associated with sweetness and soft texture, respectively. Cinkanse-Abiga showed distinct orange-fleshed colour score (3.9) followed by Cinkanse-Naabug (3.3) whiles the other varieties recorded a near-white colour (1.3-1.4). Overall scores for preference (%) were Purupuru (12.8), Obare-red (15.8), Obare-white (10.5), Kuffour (8.8), Cinkanse (12.3), Cinkanse-Abiga (31.6) and Cinkanse-Naabug (8.8). Kendall’s concordance coefficients showed this order of preference: Cinkanse-Abiga (5.9), Purupuru (4.74), Kuffour (4.68), Obare-white (4.6), Obare-red (4.2), Cinkanse (2.8) and Cinkanse-Naabug (2.5). Sensory descriptors of the most preferred varieties (Cinkanse-Abiga and Purupuru) were starchy-soft texture requiring little chewing, strong flavour and good mouth-feel. Thus, orange-fleshed cultivars which combine these attributes would be appealing to consumers of wide diversities.
