For children it is important to consume enough vegetables to establish healthy dietary patterns. Taste acceptance is an important factor contributing to food choice and consumption. Sweetness and sourness enhancement can increase acceptance of specific foods in children. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of sweetness and sourness enhancement on acceptance of cucumber and green capsicum purees in 5-6-year-old children. Three concentrations of sucrose (2, 5 and 10%) and citric acid (0.05, 0.08 and 0.15%) were added to cucumber and green capsicum purees. Children (n = 70, 5.7 ± 0.5 yrs) assessed acceptance of the vegetable purees using a 5-point hedonic facial scale. Sweetness enhancement significantly increased acceptance of cucumber purees (5 and 10% sucrose) and green capsicum purees (2 and 10% sucrose) compared to unmodified purees. Sourness enhancement (0.05, 0.08 and 0.15% citric acid) did not significantly influence acceptance of cucumber and green capsicum purees compared to unmodified purees. Children differed in acceptance of vegetable purees with added sucrose and citric acid. Sweetness likers (cucumber 77.1%, green capsicum 58.6%) accepted sucrose concentrations better than sweetness non-likers in both vegetables. Sourness likers (cucumber 50.0%, green capsicum 44.3%) accepted medium and high concentrations of citric acid better than sourness non-likers in cucumber and all citric acid concentrations in green capsicum. We conclude that enhancement of sweetness increases acceptance of cucumber and green capsicum purees in most children whereas enhancement of sourness is better accepted by only a few children. This study highlights the challenge to get children to better accept vegetables, since only sweetness enhancement improved acceptance while addition of sucrose is undesirable. For a small subset of children enhancing sourness might be an alternative strategy to increase acceptance of vegetables
Taste is a main driver in preferences and food choices. Humans are predispositioned to prefer sweet and salty tastes and reject bitter and sour tastes, therefore bitter taste is often thought to cause the rejection of vegetables by children. In our study we investigated the taste and fattiness intensity for different preparation methods for ten vegetables. Our results showed that: Frequently consumed vegetables have almost no taste Sweetness is the most intensive taste in vegetables, followed by sourness and bitterness, saltiness is the least intensive taste Vegetable preparation method influences taste intensity
Bitterness has been suggested to be the main reason for the limited palatability of several vegetables. Vegetable acceptance has been associated with preparation method. However, the taste intensity of a variety of vegetables prepared by differentmethods has not been studied yet. The objective of this study is to assess the intensity of the five basic tastes and fattiness of ten vegetables commonly consumed in the Netherlands prepared by different methods using the modified Spectrum method. Intensities of sweetness, sourness, bitterness, umami, saltiness and fattiness were assessed for ten vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, leek, carrot, onion, red bell pepper, French beans, tomato, cucumber and iceberg lettuce) by a panel (n = 9) trained in a modified Spectrum method. Each vegetable was assessed prepared by different methods (raw, cooked, mashed and as a cold pressed juice). Spectrum based reference solutions were available with fixed reference points at 13.3 mm (R1), 33.3mm(R2) and 66.7mm(R3) for each tastemodality on a 100mmline scale. For saltiness, R1 and R3 differed (16.7 mm and 56.7 mm). Mean intensities of all taste modalities and fattiness for all vegetables were mostly below R1 (13.3 mm). Significant differences (p b 0.05) within vegetables between preparation methods were found. Sweetness was the most intensive taste, followed by sourness, bitterness, fattiness, umami and saltiness.In conclusion, all ten vegetables prepared by different methods showed low mean intensities of all taste modalities and fattiness. Preparation method affected taste and fattiness intensity and the effect differed by vegetable type.
