Acceptability of food products containing almond oil in place of soybean oil

The effect of replacing soybean oil (SBO) with almond oil (AO) on the hedonic characteristics (appearance, taste, texture, and overall likeability) of four products (carrot muffins, bread, cornbread, and chocolate chip cookies) was determined in 71 participants (40 female; 30 male). A split plot factorial analysis of variance design was used to avoid order effects. Products were rated on a nine-point hedonic scale (1 = Dislike Extremely; 9 = Like Extremely). With the exception of the values for texture, taste, and overall likeability for bread (for which values were significantly [p < .05] higher for the AO than the SBO product), there were no significant between-product differences. Gender had no effect on product rating. For both sets of products, the ranking from the highest (4) to lowest (1), using values for overall likeability was: cookies (4); muffins (3); cornbread (2); and bread (1). Thus, replacement of SBO with AO had no appreciable effect on the assessed hedonic characteristics for either gender or on within set, or oil type, ranking.