ANTHOCYANIN PIGMENTS OF ROYAL OKANOGAN HUCKLEBERRY JUICE

Juice processed from Royal Okanogan Huckleberries had an intense purpl e color, (CIE La*b* = L*, 22.66, a*, -0.06, b*, -0.46) and high antho cyanin pigment content, (>5 g/L). The anthocyanins were separated by H PLC and characterized from retention times and UV-visible spectra of p urified pigments and their hydrolysis products. The major pigment (>70 %) was petunidin 3-(p-coumaroyl-rutinoside)-5-glucoside. Eleven additi onal anthocyanins were identified as petunidin, delphinidin, and malvi din with the same glycosidic substitution pattern as the major pigment , and varying degrees of acylation with p-coumaric, ferulic, and caffe ic acids. It was concluded from comparative pigment analyses and berry morphology that Royal Okanogan Huckleberries had identical characteri stics to the Garden Huckleberry, Solanaceae melanocerasum (renamed S. scabrum).