Morphology and sensory evaluation of traditional products from different landraces of pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.)

The goal of study was analysis of morphological characteristics and organoleptic attributes of traditional food products from the pulp of regional varieties of pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.). For experimental purposes we used a landrace from Ukraine (A) and 5 landraces from Serbia (B, C, D, E and F). For the fruit of all landraces were determined by the average weight of fetuses in the range 1025.0 g (F) - 7680.0 g (B), stem weight 3.35 g (F) - 25 g (B), pulp weight 668.15 g (F) - 6351.10 g (B), placental weight of 90.47 g (E) - 515.50 g (B), seed weight 44.55 g (F) - 277.80 g (B) and mass exocarp 124.20 g (E) - 471.70 g (B). The dry matter content of flesh were determined in the range 7.8 to 11.6 %. The total weight of the fruit pulp was determined by weight in the range of 65.19 up to 88.50 % and the proportion of seed weight in the range of 1.65 to 6.58 %. Differences between genotypes were determined by the texture attributes of dry pulp of selected landraces using an electron microscope. For the sensory evaluation by traditional technology, we drafted three food products from the pulp of each landraces and mash, roast flesh, and baked rolls (traditional name strudel). All products have been heat-treated by boiling (slurry at 100 °C) and baked at 200 °C. Organoleptic evaluation of samples, we identified significant differences between rated landrace in perceptions of color, texture, consistency, hardness, juiciness, flavor, aftertaste, swallowed, sweetness, acidity, smell and overall impression. Experimental results of morphological analysis, we evaluated the descriptive statistics and the relationship between the characters were determined by linear correlations. Sensory analysis were evaluated by scaling and ranking methods. In general, we identified the best organoleptic properties in the landraces originating from Serbia (C). The results confirmed significant differences between test landrace in morphological and organoleptic characteristics.