Soluble sugar and organic acid composition and flavor evaluation of Chinese cherry fruits

Jingting Zhou; Shuaiwei Yang; Yan Ma; Zhenshan Liu; Hongxia Tu; Hao Wang; Jing Zhang; Qing Chen; Wen He; Mengyao Li; Yuanxiu Lin; Yunting Zhang; Zhiwei Wu; Yong Zhang; Ya Luo; Haoru Tang; Yan Wang; Xiaorong Wang

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100953

Soluble sugar and organic acid composition and flavor evaluation of Chinese cherry fruits

Food Chem X. 2023 Oct 21:20:100953. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100953. eCollection 2023 Dec 30.

Authors

Jingting Zhou¹, Shuaiwei Yang¹, Yan Ma¹, Zhenshan Liu¹, Hongxia Tu¹, Hao Wang¹, Jing Zhang¹, Qing Chen^{1

2}, Wen He^{1

2}, Mengyao Li¹, Yuanxiu Lin¹, Yunting Zhang¹, Zhiwei Wu¹, Yong Zhang¹, Ya Luo¹, Haoru Tang¹, Yan Wang^{1

2}, Xiaorong Wang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Horticulture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China.
² Key Laboratory of Agricultural Bioinformatics, Ministry of Education, Chengdu 611130, China.

Abstract

Chinese cherry is an economically important fruit crop native to China. Flavor quality is greatly influenced by compositions of soluble sugars and organic acids. To better understand the flavor quality of Chinese cherry, we determined sugar and acid components in thirty-eight landrace and cultivar collections, and two wild resources using the HPLC method. Glucose and fructose were the main components, accounting for 85.91% of soluble sugars. Malic acid was the predominant organic acid, with an average proportion of 65.73% of total acids. Correlation and PCA analysis revealed seven key indicators for evaluating fruit flavor. Compared with wild Chinese cherry, the cultivated collections exhibited higher levels of soluble sugars, especially fructose, and lower levels of organic acid, particularly malic acid in fruits. Finally, we have established grading criteria for seven flavor indicators in Chinese cherry. Our study provides valuable references for identifying flavor compounds and improving flavor quality of Chinese cherry.

Keywords: Chinese cherry [Cerasus pseudocerasus (Lindl.) G.Don]; Citric acid (PubChem CID: 311); Fructose (PubChem CID: 5984); Fruit favor; Glucose (PubChem CID: 5793); HPLC; Lactic acid (PubChem CID: 612); Malic acid (PubChem CID: 525); Organic acids; Quinic acid (PubChem CID: 6508); Rating criteria; Shikimic acid (PubChem CID: 8742); Soluble sugars; Sorbitol (PubChem CID: 5780); Succinic acid (PubChem CID: 1110); Sucrose (PubChem CID: 5988).