PHENOLIC COMPOSITION OF INDUSTRIALLY MANUFACTURED PUREES AND CONCENTRATES FROM PEACH AND APPLE FRUITS

Purees and concentrates are intermediate products in the elaboration o f commercial fruit juices. In this paper, the phenolic composition was established and quantified in a large number of samples of peach and apple purees and concentrates. Different benzoic acids and aldehydes, cinnamic acids and their derivatives, flavan-3-ols, procyanidins, flav onols, and dihydrochalcones have been identified. The concentration of cinnamic acids and derivatives is higher in the concentrates than in the purees for both fruits. However, flavan-3-ols and procyanidins are only present in the purees. Peach-based products are completely devoi d of flavonol and dihydrochalcone derivatives due to the removal of th e skin of the fruit in the manufacturing process. On the other hand, d ifferent quercetin and phoretin glycosides were detected in apple pure es and concentrates. The results show that phenolic compounds can prov e to be helpful in the characterization of fruit purees and concentrat es as well as in the detection of adulterations in the manufacturing o f commercial fruit juices from these intermediates.