Overripe seeds from sun-dried grapes submitted to postharvest dehydration constitute a scarcely investigated class of vinification byproduct with limited reports on their phenolic composition and industrial applications. In this study, Raman spectroscopy was applied to characterize a selection of overripe seed byproducts from different white grapes (cv. Moscatel, cv. Pedro Ximénez and cv. Zalema) submitted to postharvest sun drying. The Raman measurements were taken using a 1064 nm excitation laser in order to mitigate the fluorescent effect and the dispersive detection scheme allowed a compactness of the optical system. Spectroscopic data were processed by a principal component analysis to reduce the dimensionality and partner recognition. The evolution of the Raman spectrum during the overripening process was compared with the phenolic composition of grape seeds, which was determined by rapid resolution liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (RRLC/MS). A multivariate processing of the spectroscopic data allowed the classification of overripe seeds according to the grape variety and the monitoring of stages of the postharvest sun drying process.
Keywords: Raman scattering; grape byproducts; overripe seeds; phenolics; postharvest sun drying; vibrational spectroscopy.