Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
19
Potato Flavor
Mark A.Taylor*
Cell and Molecular Sciences, The James
Hutton Institute,Invergowrie,UK
Within the European Union (EU), potato is the
major vegetable crop - in 2007 tuber yield was
61
million tonnes (Mt) on 2.2 million hectares
(Mha), with yield increasing year on year (
http://
parts of the EU is falling—for example, in Den-
mark consumption has halved during the last
generation to 57 kg year
-
1
per capita (Seefeldt
et al
., 2011). There are many reasons for this
decline, including the time for preparation, com-
petition from rice and pasta as major carbohy-
drate sources, and a perception by increasingly
sophisticated customers that potato does not
offer the variability or variety of other foods and
is somewhat passé. However, one of the most im-
portant factors in consumer purchase is product
quality. “Quality” per se is a nebulous term that
encompasses a wide range of traits, but the most
important aspects are the organoleptic drivers:
appearance, texture, and flavor (McGregor, 2007).
Within a price range, appearance drives the initial
purchase, while cooking performance, including
the flavor components, taste, texture, and vola-
tile aroma compounds, underpin continued
purchase. In addition to being a staple source of
carbohydrate, the nutritional value of potato is
being increasingly appreciated (Navarre
et al
.,
2009). Potato is a good source of vitamin C (Love
et al
., 2004), and contains nutritionally significant
levels of potassium (Burrowes and Ramer, 2008).
Some potato germplasm produce tubers contain-
ing significant levels of vitamins and micronu-
trients including folate, vitamin B6, carotenoids,
and anthocyanins (Navarre
et al
., 2009). Potatoes
with improved flavor would encourage consump-
tion, potentially having a significant impact on
nutrition.
Despite the increasing importance of po-
tato flavor to consumers, there is still much to be
learned about the complex flavor trait and the
key components that contribute to it. A particu-
lar problem is how to breed for good tuber flavor.
With the emphasis on breeders to produce culti-
vars that yield well and are disease resistant,
there has been less attention paid to potato fla-
vor. In fact, breeders lack the tools to assess fla-
vor, as this trait is very difficult to phenotype
(Klee, 2010). Flavor assessments depend on
quantitative descriptive analysis carried out by
trained taste panels. Taste panels are expensive
and have a relatively low throughput, and so fla-
vor is generally assessed only in the later stages
of a breeding program after selection for more
easily quantifiable traits. In fact, most of the po-
tential flavor and texture improvements are
likely to be discarded, and to a large extent, the
marketplace determines whether a new cultivar
is acceptable to consumers (Wang and Kays,
2003). Means of determining flavor analytically
