SENSORY ANALYSIS OF FRIED PEIXINHO-DA-HORTA: ACCEPTANCE AND CULINARY POTENTIAL

Stachys byzantina K. Koch, is a plant of the Lamiaceae family, known as peixinho-da-horta, and has been gaining space in alternative food due to its soft leaves and attractive appearance after frying. This study aimed to evaluate the sensory acceptance of peixinho da horta in a culinary preparation, aiming at its potential as a vegetable substitute in typical snack dishes for consumers in general or vegetarians and vegans. The fresh leaves were purchased at a local farmers' market and then prepared according to the Good Manufacturing Practices standards. The leaves were breaded with a mixture of water (56.18%), cornmeal (33.71%), cornstarch (7.86%), salt (1.68%) and baking powder (0.57%) and then subjected to frying in vegetable oil. The sensory evaluation was performed using a nine-point structured hedonic scale for the attributes of color, aroma, flavor, texture and overall impression, a five-point purchase intention scale and the Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) method, with 110 untrained evaluators. The results showed excellent acceptance of the product, with emphasis on texture (7.7), flavor (7.6) and aroma (7.7). The overall impression obtained an average of 7.6 and purchase intention with average values ​​of 4.0, where the scores range from 0 to 5. The main descriptors used by consumers were “crunchy”, “golden”, “reminiscent of a snack”, “fried”, “reminiscent of “fried fish” and “vegan product” and “tasty” were recurrent in the CATA. It is concluded that fried peixinho-da-horta is an excellent attractive alternative for the general public, including vegetarians and vegans, and due to its crunchy texture, golden appearance and resemblance to fried fish, it can be associated with sustainable snacks due to the non-use of materials of animal origin.