• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.525-532
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of Northeast Asians to discriminate the salinity in salt solution and foods, and to compare their preference of salinity. Panels of Korean, Japanese and Chinese evaluated three kinds of samples that contained different level of salt such as salt solutions, julienned radish salad, Bulgogi. The salt levels had been manipulated to produce five samples of each one. The salt solutions were prepared by adding 0.3%, 0.7%, 1.1%, 1.5%, 1.9% salt into water. Different levels of salt in Julienned radish salad and Bulgogi were prepared by adding 0.5%, 1.5%, 2.5%, 3.5%, 4.5% salt to the recipe. The results of this study showed that the three ethnic groups had significant differences in their ability to distinguish the intensity of salinity in solutions containing a high contents of salt(1.5~1.9%). According to the regression analysis, Koreans(a=1.050) turned out to be the most able to detect the intensity of salinity, compared to the Japanese (a=0.988) and Chinese (a=0.807). All ethnic groups preferred a salt concentration of 0.3%, and the preference for this concentration was lower in Japanese than in Koreans and Chinese. There were significant differences in the perception of salinity in the julienned radish salad containing more than 3.5% salt between Koreans and Chinese. Koreans (a=1.168) appeared to be the most able to detect the intensity of salinity, compared to the Japanese (a=0.908) and Chinese (a=0.793). Both Koreans and Japanese had the strongest preference for the julienned radish salad containing a 1.5% salt concentration, while the Chinese preferred a salt concentraion of 2.5%. The ability of ethnic groups to detect the salinity in Bulgogi were significantly different at high salt -concentrations (more than 3.5%), and the awareness of salinity was as fallows : Koreans(a=0.161) > Japanese (a=0.896) > Chinese (a= 0.845). Koreans and Japanese had a higher preference or the Bulgogi containing a salt concentration of 1.5%, and the Chinese had higher preference at a salt concentration of 2.5%.