Romagnoli F.lli has been working with this institute from Bologna for over ten years to monitor the quality of production and the technical and sensory characteristics of potato varieties.
Having been running for over ten years, the collaboration is continuing between Romagnoli F.lli S.p.A. and the Institute for Bio-Economy IBE-CNR in Bologna, which will see these two organisations collaborating on a programme to monitor the quality of potato production, in order to characterise potato varieties from an instrumental and sensory point of view, with the goal of determining their culinary uses and suitability for cold storage. It has been a successful strategy, applied since 2010 for assessing over sixty varieties from all over Italy.
Thanks to their good storage, versatility in the kitchen and wide range of varieties, potatoes are one of the most common fruit and vegetable products on Italian dinner tables, available all year round. These aspects make it even more necessary to guarantee high quality standards during the entire production process. For every variety considered, the production lots are therefore analysed in two separate phases during their time in cold storage to assess the changes of their sensory characteristics over time and therefore their suitability for storage. While new potatoes are assessed in June, shortly after the harvest.
Starting from characterising the varieties, alongside conventional instrumental analysis of the raw product - average weight, size, texture, Brix degrees, colour of the flesh and skin, dry weight and how easy they are to clean - there are quantitative-descriptive tests (QDA) typically for sensory analysis, conducted by a group of 8-10 tasters selected and trained by IBE researchers. This analysis method helps assess factors that cannot be detected by instruments, such as the characteristic smell, taste and texture. Furthermore, all varieties are analysed after being boiled and most of them after being fried. For fried potatoes, the sensory analysis is followed by a visual assessment to determine the grade of browning, using the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Munsell Color Standard scale.
“Through this collaboration, we once again confirm our experimental nature”, explained Giulio Romagnoli, the CEO of Romagnoli F.lli S.p.A., “which, in this case, aims to focus on how useful sensory analysis is as a tool to support instrumental findings to characterise varieties. The sensory analysis is particularly useful in terms of research into varieties, which aims to release a product onto the market with high quality and sustainability standards and which can, at the same time, meet the expectations of consumers who increasingly focus on the quality and characteristics of the ingredients they choose to make their recipes”.
“The collaboration with Romagnoli F.lli focuses on the organoleptic qualities of potatoes, comparing the points of view of the company and the research, while also considering the entire production chain and helping release a great product to eat onto the market, pushing further to the palate of the consumer”, emphasised Stefano Predieri, the manager of IBE-CNR Bologna. “Right from the outset, the shared point of view was to achieve the best understanding of the taste characteristics of the various potato varieties available, and to assess them based on the region they come from, the environmental characteristics, the harvesting time and their shelf life. Romagnoli F.lli has always been committed to providing a high-quality, well-selected product to certify the results of the analysis and to enhance the best varieties resulting from it”.
“For a research institute like IBE-CNR”, continued Edoardo Gatti, the project manager, “the collaboration which has lasted over ten years with Romagnoli F.lli. S.p.A. was a useful test bed that helped apply and adapt sensory, technological and statistical analysis methodologies to a very high number of varieties, therefore helping create a large, detailed database of information on potatoes”.
Also for the case of Italian new potatoes, a highly popular product on the market, particularly when they come from the area around Syracuse, the perceived quality parameters needed to be monitored to guarantee a high level of quality during the entire marketing period for the product.
The results of the assessment
Boiled potatoes
The average results obtained for the three-year period 2018-2020 are for four varieties, Twister, Monique, Levante and Constance, which were assessed using instrumental and sensory variables (typical smell, moisture, fine flesh, stickiness, flouriness, texture, sweetness, flavour, bitter flavour, typical aroma, and other aromas). Constance is characterised by a high dry matter content and good flavour, while Levante has a more consistent flesh, but a more floury texture. Monique stands out for its typically strong smell and aroma. Twister is the most well-balanced variety regarding the instrumental and sensory variables taken into consideration. Finally, the qualities of all the varieties get better over time, receiving a gradually better verdict as their time of storage increases, because their genetic resistance to sprouting makes them suitable for long storage.
Fried potatoes
Our results refer to the comparison between two varieties from the 2020 harvest, Fontane and Agria, both of which have bright yellow flesh and skin and were assessed using new sensory descriptors, some of which are commonly found in the analysis of boiled potatoes, while others are specifically for assessing fried potatoes (crispiness, chewiness and oiliness). From the sensory profiles obtained from the QDA (quantitative-descriptive analysis), it emerged that the aromatic and taste descriptors overlap for the two varieties, while Fontane records higher values for texture, crispiness, chewiness and oiliness.
From the visual assessment to determine the grade of browning after frying, by using the Munsell USDA Color Standard scale - which includes 5 grades of colouring, from yellow (grade 0, the lightest) to dark brown (grade 4) - the colour of Fontane potatoes was defined as yellow (grade 0), while Agria was bright golden yellow (grade 1).
New potatoes
The panel test carried out on new potatoes only involved boiled potatoes, as this is the best cooking method for new potatoes. From the assessment of the sensory profiles of the two varieties considered for the 2021 harvest, Arizona and Elodie, the results are very similar for all the descriptors considered, i.e. typical smell, moisture, fine flesh, stickiness, flouriness, texture, sweetness, flavour, bitter flavour, typical aroma, and other aromas, with the first variety scoring slightly higher for its perceived texture than the second variety.
