Résumé
Boiled cassava is one of the most common consumption forms of cassava roots in both rural and urban areas of Benin, West Africa. The sensory quality of boiled cassava is very important for the acceptance of a new variety by consumers. As popular as boiled cassava is in Benin, there is a lack of information on consumers' demand for quality characteristics of this product. Hence, this study aimed at understanding the consumers' demand for quality characteristics of boiled cassava. Five cassava varieties (Adjaha, Alanmandou, Atinwéwé, Dossi and Koléahomè) were processed into boiled cassava pieces and tested by 240 consumers in rural (Bonou and Dangbo) and urban (Porto-Novo) areas. Consumer testing was performed using hedonic, JAR and CATA tests. The overall liking of boiled cassava varied widely between cassava varieties (from a score of 2.7 'dislike moderately' to 8 'like very much' for Koléahomè and Dossi respectively). For Atinwéwé and Alanmandou varieties, the mean overall liking depends also on the locations where consumer testing was conducted (rural and urban areas). Dossi and Atinwéwé varieties fulfilled the hedonic expectations of the majority of consumers, independently of the locations. High quality boiled cassava should be 'attractive' with 'white homogenous' or 'white outside' and 'yellow inside colour', 'crumbly in the mouth', 'easy to break with the hand', 'sticky between fingers', 'with no fibres', a 'sweet taste' (very or slightly) and a 'good cassava smell'. Irrespective of the cassava variety, the overall liking of boiled cassava was greatly penalized by 'too yellow colour', 'not easy enough to break with the hand', 'not crumbly enough in the mouth' and 'too bitter taste' and 'bitter aftertaste' attributes.