The sensory properties and appropriateness of cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) for processing is very closely related to its ripening stage, recognizable by firmness and skin colour to some extent. Due to the non-uniform ripening on the trees the quality of the fruits offered on the market depends very much on the harvest-method. Today, processors, who usually do not buy fresh fruits but frozen fruits or puree on the market, don`t have a suitable means for the accurate quality assessment of the raw material they need for the processing of high-quality products. The results of this work show for the first time that from the selected parameters (carbohydrates, organic acids, phenols) only flavonols, especially kaempferol-3-glucoside is appropriate to determine the stage of ripeness of cornelian cherries properly independent from species, provenance and crop year. Kaempferol 3-O-glucoside of about 1.75 mg/Kg in wild genotypes and of about 0.80 mg/Kg in most big cornelian cherry species can serve as a reference for sufficient ripeness and therefore for high fruit quality.
Keywords: Cornelian cherry; Flavonol; Quality assessment; Ripening stage.
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