The Improvement of Sweetness of Japanese Chestnut with Low Temperatures Treatment and Consumer's Preference

Abstract

We examined the possibility of the sweetness control by the short treatment of low temperature (0--2°C) storage, and investigated consumer taste for sweet chestnuts and the standard of sweetness of chestnut. 1) By the treatment of low temperature, the starch content in chestnut was decreased, and the total sugar and the sucrose contents were increased. These contents were increased by the treatment of low temperature during one week. After the treatment of low temperature, the sucrose content didn't change during 2 weeks at room temperature. 2) By the test of consumer taste for sweet chestnuts, it was defined that consumer preferred sweet chestnuts very much. By the organic test of 4 items, it was seen that the taste was correlated with the sucrose content extremely. 3) At room temperature we can distribute the chestnuts that the sugar content was increased by the short treatment of low temperature. According to the sucrose content we could assumed the standard of sweetness that under 4.5% was 'Ordinary', 4.5-8.0% was 'Sweet', and over 8.0% was 'Fairy sweet'.