SWEET SAMOSAS: A NEW FOOD PRODUCT IN THE PORTUGUESE MARKET

Since in the present times families have much less time to prepare meals or even deserts, and because sweets are always so well accepted to enjoy a moment of pleasure either alone or shared, it was the aim of this academic work to prepare an alternative desert, not at sale in the Portuguese market, and study its acceptance by the consumers. The product selected was sweet samosas, and these were prepared with different filings (apple & cinnamon, chocolate & hazelnut, kiwi & walnut, strawberry & chocolate, pumpkin jam & almond, apricot jam & walnut) and different cooking instructions (fried or oven roasted). The work involved the formulation of the recipes and preparation of the products. In parallel a market study was also performed to understand how the consumers would accept this type of product. Furthermore, a sensorial analysis was undertaken to see how the product was sensed and infer its acceptability. Finally, a brief SWOT analysis was done to help perceiving the potentialities for commercialization of this product.The sensory analysis was made with a panel of 30 untrained tasters, and the results allowed concluding that the product would be a consumers’ choice. Also the results of the market survey allowed confirming the acceptability of our product, with a high percentage of people admitting an intention of buying the product.