Acceptability characteristics of consumption of dehydrated Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) flakes

Abstract

The consumption of yacón or aricoma (Smallanthus sonchifolius) due to its studied prebiotic characteristics has a sweet sensation that can contribute greatly to reduce the consumption of free sugar, allowing its application as a functional food in the food industry. This sweet sensation is due to the phospho-oligosaccharides (FOS) that are part of the reserve carbohydrates of yacon, having around a third of the sweetening power of sucrose without being caloric; it can be used safely by diabetics, has greater solubility than sucrose, does not crystallise, does not precipitate and does not leave a dry or sandy sensation in the mouth. In the present study, sensory acceptability is of interest as its mental conceptualisation encodes the object from the senses; consumer perception sequentially starts with colour, smell, texture, taste and finally by the sound when digested. The statistical package SPSS was used for the data analysis, within this, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used, grouping the results according to the most representative variables, thus generating principal components that characterise the research. The present study identifies two main components; the first component called "decision making" with the variable: I am willing to buy this flake, has a high influence on the study population. The second component called "sensory perception of taste" with the variables: the flake has a pleasant taste and aroma, has a preponderance in the study population. In this sense, it can be inferred that the characteristic of acceptability in terms of purchase decision making is influenced by the taste and aroma of the dehydrated yacón flakes.