Impact of visual attributes and sociodemographic factors on consumer preferences for locally produced freekeh (green wheat)

Freekeh is made from green, prematurely harvested durum wheat, the grains are roasted, and threshed, which gives freekeh a distinct smoky flavor. The study aims to evaluate factors affecting consumer preferences toward locally produced freekeh. The data was collected from 511 participants using an online questionnaire created by the Google Forms platform. Our findings showed that 81.4% of respondents were able to differentiate between freekeh containing physical impurities (such as straw, small gravel, etc.) and freekeh without physical impurities. It was found that 70.8% of respondents preferred freekeh in its milky stage. The importance of product attributes (naturalness, size & weight of product, safety, grain shape, nutritional value, color, flavor, hardness, etc.) in purchase was not affected by the educational levels of respondents. Moreover, females showed significantly higher importance to the nutritional value (8.88 vs. 8.51, p < 0.05) and flavor (9.19 vs. 8.87, p < 0.05) of freekeh than males during purchase, respectively. The importance of product attributes was affected by the age of respondents. In conclusion, consumer preferences toward locally produced freekeh are affected by different sociodemographic conditions. The most determinant factors in purchase were size of grain, the content of physical impurities, and the maturity of grains at harvest.