Physico-chemical, nutritional, and volatilecomposition and sensory profile of Spanishjujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) fruits

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Jujube fruit is eaten mostly fresh, but may be dried (Chinese dates and tea) or processed into confectionaryrecipes in bread, cakes, compotes, and candy. Given that the quality of jujube available on the market differs on accountof various factors such as geographical environment, cultivar, processing conditions, and storage conditions, and that, forconsumers, flavour and nutrition properties of jujube represent the major parameters in determining the quality of jujube,the main goal of this study were to determine the main physico-chemical properties of jujube fruits, sugars and organic acidsprofiles, protein, mineral constituents, volatile composition and sensory profile of jujube fruits. This would allow breeders toselect cultivars with higher levels of nutrients and also enable increasing dietary intake by consumers.RESULTS: Investigations showed that jujube fruit weight ranged from 4.8 to 29.3 g fruit−1 . Four sugars (glucose, fructose,sucrose and sorbitol) and four organic acids (citric, malic, ascorbic and succinic acids) were identified and quantified byhigh-performance liquid chromatography in jujube fruits. Potassium, calcium and magnesium were the major mineral con-stituents in jujube fruits. Fifteen volatiles compounds were found in the aroma profile of jujube fruits (nine were aldehydes,three terpenes, one ester, one ketone and one linear hydrocarbon).CONCLUSION: The results showed that Spanish jujube cultivars studied are a good source of vitamin C, and they have a lowcontent of Na. The jujube cultivar with the most appreciated quality by consumers was GAL; the GAL fruits were sweet, crunchy,and had high intensities of jujube ID and apple flavour a long after-taste. Therefore, jujube grown in Spain has a great potentialto be exploited for functional foods.© 2015 Society of Chemical Industry