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Sensory Evaluation of Common Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in Response to Sodium Chloride Concentration in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution

Common ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) is a novel edible plant with a succulent and savory flavor. The plants display prominent epidermal bladder cells (EBCs) on the surface of the leaves that store water and sodium chloride (NaCl). The plants have high nutritional value and are adapted...

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Autores principales: Xia, Jiaqi, Mattson, Neil, Stelick, Alina, Dando, Robin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9497535/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36140917
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11182790
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author Xia, Jiaqi
Mattson, Neil
Stelick, Alina
Dando, Robin
author_facet Xia, Jiaqi
Mattson, Neil
Stelick, Alina
Dando, Robin
author_sort Xia, Jiaqi
collection PubMed
description Common ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) is a novel edible plant with a succulent and savory flavor. The plants display prominent epidermal bladder cells (EBCs) on the surface of the leaves that store water and sodium chloride (NaCl). The plants have high nutritional value and are adapted to saline soils. Previous research has determined the impact of NaCl on the growth and mineral content of ice plant, but as NaCl has an impact on a food’s sensory properties, an interesting question is whether saline growth media can affect the plant’s taste and texture, and if this alters consumers’ sensory response to ice plant. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensory aspects of ice plant, as well as consumer liking in response to increasing NaCl concentration in hydroponic nutrient solution. Four-week-old seedlings of ice plant were transplanted into deep water culture (DWC) hydroponic systems and treated with five NaCl concentrations (0 M [control], 0.05 M, 0.10 M, 0.20 M, and 0.40 M NaCl). Eight-week-old plants (after four weeks of NaCl treatment) were harvested, and the middle leaves of each plant were sampled for consumer testing. A total of 115 participants evaluated various flavor, texture, and appearance aspects of ice plant and provided their liking ratings. The consumers were able to discriminate differences in salt intensity from the plants based on NaCl treatment in the hydroponic nutrient solution. Low NaCl concentrations (0.05–0.10 M) did not have obvious adverse effect on consumer liking, which aligns with the result of previous research that 0.05–0.10 M NaCl could largely stimulate the growth of ice plant. NaCl concentrations higher than 0.20 M are not recommended from both a production and consumer perspective. With increased NaCl level in plant samples, the consumers detected more saltiness, sourness, and fishiness, less green flavor, and similar levels of bitterness and sweetness. NaCl treatment had no effects on leaf appearance and texture, and the consumers’ overall liking was mainly determined by flavor. Overall, ice plant presents some unique attributes (salty and juicy) compared to other edible salad greens; however, consumer awareness of ice plant is very low, and purchase intent is relatively low as well. Consumers picture ice plant being used mainly in salads and in restaurants.
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spelling pubmed-94975352022-09-23 Sensory Evaluation of Common Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in Response to Sodium Chloride Concentration in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution Xia, Jiaqi Mattson, Neil Stelick, Alina Dando, Robin Foods Article Common ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) is a novel edible plant with a succulent and savory flavor. The plants display prominent epidermal bladder cells (EBCs) on the surface of the leaves that store water and sodium chloride (NaCl). The plants have high nutritional value and are adapted to saline soils. Previous research has determined the impact of NaCl on the growth and mineral content of ice plant, but as NaCl has an impact on a food’s sensory properties, an interesting question is whether saline growth media can affect the plant’s taste and texture, and if this alters consumers’ sensory response to ice plant. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensory aspects of ice plant, as well as consumer liking in response to increasing NaCl concentration in hydroponic nutrient solution. Four-week-old seedlings of ice plant were transplanted into deep water culture (DWC) hydroponic systems and treated with five NaCl concentrations (0 M [control], 0.05 M, 0.10 M, 0.20 M, and 0.40 M NaCl). Eight-week-old plants (after four weeks of NaCl treatment) were harvested, and the middle leaves of each plant were sampled for consumer testing. A total of 115 participants evaluated various flavor, texture, and appearance aspects of ice plant and provided their liking ratings. The consumers were able to discriminate differences in salt intensity from the plants based on NaCl treatment in the hydroponic nutrient solution. Low NaCl concentrations (0.05–0.10 M) did not have obvious adverse effect on consumer liking, which aligns with the result of previous research that 0.05–0.10 M NaCl could largely stimulate the growth of ice plant. NaCl concentrations higher than 0.20 M are not recommended from both a production and consumer perspective. With increased NaCl level in plant samples, the consumers detected more saltiness, sourness, and fishiness, less green flavor, and similar levels of bitterness and sweetness. NaCl treatment had no effects on leaf appearance and texture, and the consumers’ overall liking was mainly determined by flavor. Overall, ice plant presents some unique attributes (salty and juicy) compared to other edible salad greens; however, consumer awareness of ice plant is very low, and purchase intent is relatively low as well. Consumers picture ice plant being used mainly in salads and in restaurants. MDPI 2022-09-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9497535/ /pubmed/36140917 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11182790 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Xia, Jiaqi
Mattson, Neil
Stelick, Alina
Dando, Robin
Sensory Evaluation of Common Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in Response to Sodium Chloride Concentration in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution
title Sensory Evaluation of Common Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in Response to Sodium Chloride Concentration in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution
title_full Sensory Evaluation of Common Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in Response to Sodium Chloride Concentration in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution
title_fullStr Sensory Evaluation of Common Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in Response to Sodium Chloride Concentration in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution
title_full_unstemmed Sensory Evaluation of Common Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in Response to Sodium Chloride Concentration in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution
title_short Sensory Evaluation of Common Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in Response to Sodium Chloride Concentration in Hydroponic Nutrient Solution
title_sort sensory evaluation of common ice plant (mesembryanthemum crystallinum l.) in response to sodium chloride concentration in hydroponic nutrient solution
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9497535/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36140917
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods11182790
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