Quality traits and sensory evaluation by blind and visually impaired people of several local apple cultivars.

The old cultivars belonging to local genetic pools are generally characterized by environmental hardiness showing suitability for low-input agricultural systems. The harvest fruits can have high health value but can often show unusual pomological traits and imperfections, preventing the consumer acceptance. With the aim to go beyond appearances, sensory evaluations were conducted with trained blind and visually impaired people on eight apple local cultivars, from organic farmers in Lucca province (central Italy). The sensory tests were carried out on quality attributes (shape, size, texture, aroma, sweetness, acid taste, juiciness, and global appreciation), on the basis of a 9-point hedonic scale. The instrumental analysis concerned the main physico-chemical parameters (weight, skin colour, firmness, total soluble sugars, titratable acidity). Some cultivars, characterized by good pomological traits, high sensory quality and acceptability, could be introduced in niche markets and future breeding programs.