Development and acceptance of Vanilla bean paste of the The Spices of Fiji

Lako, Jimaima V. and Hazelman, George (2014) Development and acceptance of Vanilla bean paste of the The Spices of Fiji. Fiji Agriculture Journal, 54 (2). pp. 15-23. ISSN 0015-0886

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Abstract

Product development and value-addition of locally grown crops into processed food commodities suitable for the local supermarket is limited. Through the “Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access” programme of Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC-PHAMA), the project aimed at developing shelf stable vanilla bean pastes for human consumption with the use of dried vanilla beans sourced and cultivated at the Spices of Fiji plantation. Ten (10) prototypes of SpiceFiji vanilla bean paste were formulated, chemically and microbiology tested and evaluated through descriptive profiling and consumer acceptance test that helped determined the final product formulation. Two popular commercial vanilla bean pastes (Com1 and Com2) were used as comparison in the identification and determination of the degree of consumer acceptability of two vanilla bean paste finalists SpiceFiji (SpiceFiji1 and SpiceFiji2). Overall, results revealed that the newly developed vanilla bean paste SpiceFiji1 ranked first, followed by SpiceFiji2 as second and then followed by vanilla pastes of the two competitors brands (Com1 and Com2). The differences observed between the four vanilla pastes on appearance, colour, aroma, flavour, texture and aftertaste revealed a highly significant difference (P < 0.001) using Kruskal Wallis test. SpiceFiji1 outperformed the Com1 brand on five sensory attributes, i.e. appearance (P < 0.05), colour (P < 0.01), flavour (P < 0.001), texture (P < 0.001) and aftertaste (P < 0.001) which were highly significant. Aroma was the only sensory attribute that showed no significant difference between SpiceFiji1 and Com1 which may be interpreted as similarity in aroma. Similarly, when SpiceFiji1 was compared with Com2, all of the sensory attributes showed a highly significant difference (P < 0.001) revealing superiority of SpiceFiji1 over Com2. Microbial tests and other tests that verified the safety of vanilla bean pastes for human consumption confirmed their stability and shelf life of 24 months. The data gathered and the success of this project proved the greater potential in developing world-class products from home grown crops in Fiji. However, strengthening collaboration with government and academic institutions in the realization of their role in producing skilled and knowledge workers in the area of food product development and food engineering is critical in enhancing import substitution drive of healthy processed foods to fill our local supermarket shelves enabling self –sustainable approach and independence.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) > School of Biological and Chemical Sciences
Depositing User:	Jimaima Lako
Date Deposited:	23 Jan 2015 02:51
Last Modified:	10 May 2016 21:38
URI:	http://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/7877

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