QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMUM MONTH FOR CONSUMPTION OF DAYLILIES (Hemerocallis SPP.).
There are over 30,000 named daylily cultivars in existence today. Ancient Chinese used the plant for nutritive and medicinal qualities. The Greek name Hemerocallis means beautiful for a day. Daylilies demonstrate potential in food service due to the range of color, fragrance, flavor, and textural varieties. The objective was to quantify by descriptive analysis the attribute descriptors for two edible daylily cultivars, i.e., `Rosie Meyer' and `Siloam Powder Pink' and to provide data indicating optimum month for consumption of these two cultivars of daylilies. Blooms were harvested during early morning hours over 5 months (May to September). Six panelists were trained utilizing Quantitative Descriptive Analysis for 6 months on the sensory attributes of `Rosie Meyer' and `Siloam Powder Pink' cultivars. Training consisted of determining attribute categories as well as intensity ratings for references. Attribute categories included appearance, odor/scent, handfelt texture, oral texture, basic taste(s), flavor, mouth feeling factors, and chew rate. Results showed attribute categories with descriptors for `Siloam Powder Pink' as odor/scent, flavor, mouth feeling factors, and oral texture as having a significant difference (P < 0.05) for the evaluation months. `Rosie Meyer' demonstrated significant differences (P < 0.05) for the evaluation months in attribute categories for appearance, odor/scent, flavor, oral texture, and mouth feeling factors. The optimum month for consumption of `Rosie Meyer' was September (P < 0.05); `Siloam Powder Pink' was July (P < 0.05). These results provide a descriptive language for daylily (Hemerocallis sp.) cultivars `Rosie Meyer' and `Siloam Powder Pink'. The optimum month for consumption to obtain the fullest range of desirable attributes will provide the food and horticultural industry with added information by which to market these cultivars.