Consumer's Preference for Bibimnaengmyeon Sauce Supplemented with Different Amounts of Watermelon Powder

This study investigated the possibility of supplementing watermelon as a natural sweetening ingredient in Bibimnaengmyeon sauce. To determine the optimal ratio of watermelon powder in the formulation, Bibimnaengmyeon sauces were prepared with 25, 50, 75, and 100% watermelon powder instead of sugar and analyzed with the control for consumer acceptance test. This study also investigated the awareness of Bibimnaengmyeon to provide additional marketing implications. Our results indicate that for all 6 factors examined (overall liking, appearance, color, flavor/ smell, taste, and texture) on the 9-point hedonic scale in evaluation, the WP50 sample supplemented with 50% watermelon powder instead of sugar showed the best results. In addition, the WP50 sample received the highest purchase intention and recommendation intention (P<0.001). Contrarily, the WP100 formulation showed the lowest results for all factors evaluated (P<0.01). Compared to the control group, all preference characteristics, except texture, showed high liking in the 25∼75% watermelon powder supplementation groups. These findings indicate that consumers prefer sauces with less than 75% sugar-replacing watermelon powder as compared to the control sauces. The WP50 sample supplemented with 50% watermelon powder showed the best acceptance test score (P<0.01). In conclusion, the overall results indicate that replacing sugar with 50% watermelon powder in the preparation of Bibimnaemyeon sauce is optimal, with a reasonably high overall acceptability. We believe that the results of this study will contribute positively to the utilization of surplus watermelon rendering their application as a resource for use as a natural sweetener.