PREDICTION OF FLAVOR INTENSITY OF BLACK-CURRANT (RIBES-NIGRUM L) DRINKS FROM COMPOSITIONAL DATA ON FRUIT CONCENTRATES BY PARTIAL LEAST-SQUARES REGRESSION

Concentration of fruit juice by reduced pressure distillation causes s ubstantial loss of volatile components, and produces new less-volatile flavour compounds which affect the flavour of drinks prepared from th e resulting concentrate. Free-choice profiling indicated that blackcur rant drinks could be classified into three groups, depending mainly on the extent of processing. The flavour intensity of a series of drinks prepared from blackcurrant concentrate was measured by sensory analys is using magnitude estimation, and 214 volatile components of the conc entrates were quantified by capillary gas chromatography. Partial leas t squares regression was successful in modelling the perceived flavour intensity of the drinks from gas chromatographic data on concentrate composition.