ABSTRACT
The strawberry cultivars used in Brazil are from breeding programs of other countries, and have sensory characteristics that meet the demand of the place of origin. Furthermore, these characteristics may vary with the climate and soil conditions, as well as with the cropping system, for these reasons is very important to evaluate the materials in place of cultivation. The objective was to perform the sensory characterization of the strawberry cultivars Camarosa, Diamante, Aromas, Ventana, Albion, Camino Real, Earlibrite and Festival produced in Pelotas, Brazil. So, the fruits were evaluated for appearance, texture and flavor through the quantitative descriptive analysis, by a team of eight trained panelists. Camino Real Cultivar showed the best color while 'Earlibrite' was characterized by the highest brightness intensity whereas Camarosa exhibited the greatest number of defects, resulting in impairment of visual quality. The cultivar Albion, followed by Ventana and Camino Real presented fruits with superior quality than the others, and they showed good sensory characteristics when produced in Pelotas region.
Keywords:
Fragaria x ananassa; strawberry; quality; cultivars