DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMAL CONCENTRATION OF STEVIA SWEETENER IN LOW-CALORIE GRAPE JAM THROUGH THE SENSORY CUT-OFF POINT OBTAINED FROM SURVIVAL ANALYSIS STATISTICS

The present study studies the ideal concentration of natural sweetener Stevia in jams developed from grapes reduced in their natural carbohydrates, through a Central Location Test, from a panel of 123 consumers from the city of Olavarria (Argentina), in an age range of 15-65 years. Each of the consumers received 6 samples of jam with different concentrations of Stevia sweetener. For each sample, consumers had to answer according to their degree of acceptability if: "It is less sweet than I like it", "It is sweet as I like it" or "It is sweeter than I like it". The optimal concentration was 3.74% (w / w), which means that 5.61 g of the Stevia sweetener is equivalent to 100 g of common sugar, for which purpose the Cut Point technique was applied applying the Statistical Survival Methodology.