Apples and apple-based products are particularly interesting due to being a good source of polyphenols in an everyday diet. Recently there has been increased interest in the preservation of traditional apple varieties due to studies that suggest that traditional apple varieties have a higher content of polyphenols and antioxidant activity compared to commercial varieties. This study shows that traditional apple varieties contain higher concentration of polyphenolic compounds than conventional ones, such as chlorogenic acid (1.29-456 mg/kg dw), catechin (0.70-312 mg/kg dw), epicatechin (1.75-244 mg/kg dw), procyanidin B1 + B2 (4.08-358 mg/kg dw) and quercetin-3-glucoside (0.96-231 mg/kg dw). This research underlies the great potential of traditional apple varieties as a source of natural antioxidants and polyphenolics.
Keywords: Croatian traditional apple varieties; LC-MS/MS; bioactive compounds; polyphenols.