SWEET POTATO FLAVOR: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF OPTIMUM SWEETNESS

ABSTRACT Information on the preferred sugar content would be invaluable in defining flavor criteria and goals for sweet potato breeding programs. By using a sweet potato breeding line that was essentially nonsweet and adding known levels of individual sugars to a puree produced from its baked roots, a quantitative and qualitative assessment of optimum sweetness was made. Panelists were able to distinguish sweetness level in 2.5% increments of added maltose between 10 and 25%. When individual sugars were compared at the same level of sweetness [sucrose equivalents (SE)], panelists consistently ranked the sugars in the following order of preference: maltose > sucrose > fructose. When purees with the same concentration of added maltose or fructose were compared, optimum sweetness for maltose was approximately 21 SE while fructose was 38 SE. Higher levels were considered excessively sweet, thus it is theoretically possible to select sweet potato lines that are too sweet. While lines could be selected for high levels of sucrose and/or fructose. starch hydrolysis and maltose formation appear to be important in sweet potato flavor quality.