Evaluation Of Consumer Preference Level For Lempuk Durian Products As A Traditional Food From Bengkalis Island: Hedonic Testing With Organoleptic Quality Attribute

Lempuk durian is a traditional durian confection and culinary emblem of Bengkalis Island, yet producers have long judged its quality through inherited intuition rather than systematic sensory evidence. This study examined how four organoleptic attributes, namely color, aroma, taste, and texture, influence consumer preference for the product, and used interviews with a producer and community informants to interpret the numerical results. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was applied. A hedonic questionnaire was completed by 100 consumers recruited through accidental sampling on Bengkalis Island and analyzed using validity and reliability tests, classical assumption tests, correlation, and multiple linear regression. Four informants were interviewed to explain the patterns found. Every attribute had a positive and significant partial effect on preference, with texture the strongest, followed by color, aroma, and taste. Together, the attributes accounted for 76.3 percent of the variance in preference. Informants described the same four attributes as markers of authenticity and linked texture to firewood cooking and continuous stirring. The findings give producers an evidence-based quality benchmark and indicate that consistent texture and color should be prioritized to sustain the competitiveness of this heritage product.