Effect of vacuum impregnation on the phenolic content of Granny Smith and Stark Delicious frozen apple cvv

Abstract

ABTS•+ test, o-diphenols (spectrophotometric) and HPLC-DAD phenolic content in vacuum impregnated apple slices from Stark Delicious and Granny Smith cvv. were studied. Vacuum impregnation (VI) was carried out in a pilot plant using an aqueous solution containing 37.9% dextrose, 15.2% sucrose, 1.0% ascorbic acid, 0.25% calcium chloride and 0.25% sodium chloride. The impregnation time was 30 min and the vacuum pressure was 100 mbar; the temperature was 25 °C during all processing steps and the solution/fruit ratio was 11:1. At the end of VI, samples were left 5 min in syrup. They were then rinsed with water, drained in a vibrating screen and quickly frozen. A significant decrease (p < 0.05) of the o-diphenol content was seen (17.84 and 12.32% of the initial content in Stark and Granny varieties, respectively). The same trend was confirmed by HPLC-DAD where reductions in total phenols were 21.57 and 26.86% in Stark and Granny, respectively. Individual phenolic compounds showed different rates of depletion, although in some cases there was no reduction. The ABTS•+ test was strongly affected by the presence of ascorbic acid (AA), which was much higher in treated samples. Sensory evaluation showed higher values of hardness, crispness, juiciness and sourness in VI Granny Smith than VI Stark delicious, with a higher retention of texture parameters in the former. Finally, sweetness was slightly higher in VI Stark.