The flavor quality of many fresh fruits available to consumers
today is generally believed to have deteriorated.
While agricultural and postharvest practices certainly
contribute to poor flavor, a large part of the problem is
the challenge of breeding for and accurately assessing
such a complex, multigenic trait in a natural product
such as a fruit. Here we address the parallel challenges
linked to measurement of flavor and human preferences,
particularly as it applies to a complex, whole food in which
many chemicals and sensations are synthesized into a
distinct and recognizable flavor profile. What is flavor?
What contributes to the pleasure evoked by flavors? We
examine interactions between taste and olfaction as well
as psychophysical measurement limitations that confound
efforts to understand human flavor preferences. The ability
to address these questions in a whole food presents
exciting opportunities to understand the basic principles
of how we select the foods that we eat