From Romanian apple to juice and apple cider – a comparative study and physicochemical analyses

Abstract

Romania has a long tradition in the production of high quality apples, which can be processed into a large variety of soft drinks. The aim of the study was to establish the physicochemical characteristics of some apple varieties growing in Romania, together with their corresponding juice and cider, regarding polyphenols, antioxidant capacity, pH and refractive index. Some samples of apple, apple juices and corresponding ciders were analysed using Folin Ciocalteu method for total polyphenols content (TPC) and CUPRAC method to evaluate the antioxidant capacity (TAC). For all cases, moisture content, sugars (like °Brix), pH and alcoholic content were recorded. Compared to fresh apples, a significant decrease of the antioxidant capacity measured by CUPRAC assay and TPC for cider was observed. Also, statistically significant differences between samples were found. During processing of apples to juice and cider, a difference in the antioxidant capacity of the final product was noticed. Our study shows that processing apples to juice and further to cider has the effect of drastically decreasing the TAC to 2-6% of the initial apples TAC, depending on the apple variety.