Abstract
Objective In order to develop and promote sweets made with Kakamigahara brand carrots from Kakamigahara City in Gifu Prefecture, a collaboration agreement was signed by representatives of local industry, academia, and government. A series of medicinal sweets were developed and sold. This study`s objective is to perform a sensory evaluation of the medicinal sweets and identify their characteristics.
Method Several types of sweets were created using Kakamigahara brand carrots harvested in the winter of 2016. The intention was to create sweets with Chinese medicinal qualities that were suitable for fall and winter consumption. They were subjected to sensory evaluation using the semantic differential(SD) method. 17 categories of questions were created, and evaluation was mede on a seven point scale. The study was conducted in October 2017 on 48 participants(23 male, 25 female) between the ages of 30 and 45 after an explanation of the study. The results were collated and analyzed with SPSS statistical software. For each category the mean and standard deviation were calculated, and a semantic profile diagram created.
The analysis looked for the main reasons for each result,calculated by varimax rotation, and scree plot reduction rates were examined to determine the numbers of characteristics.
Results The "Kakamigahara Brand Carrot Fall and Winter Medicinal Carrot Cake" created by students at Tokai Gakuin University was characterized by the three traits "aroma and deliciousness," "beauty and health.," and "palatability and individuality." It is hoped that this medicinal cake will become a popular Kakamigahara carrot sweet in Gifu, which boasts the oldest tradition of using medicinal plants in Japan.
