Physical, chemical, flavor and sensory characteristics of two sweet cherryvarieties grown in 'Valle del Jerte' (Spain)

Volatile compounds and physical, chemical and sensory characteristics of tw o sweet cherry varieties autochthonous from 'Valle del Jerte', in the South west of Spain, during 1995 and 1996 seasons were investigated. 'Pico Colora do' had higher values of lightness, chroma, hue, firmness and Brix/acid rat io than 'Ambrunes,' 'Ambrunes' was rated higher for most of the sensory att ributes evaluated, it had the highest scores for sweet taste and sweet cher ry taste, although it had a lower Brix/acid ratio than 'Pico Colorado'. Thi s must be due to the fact that "Pico Colorado 'had a move astringent taste that masked the others. Sixty-two volatile compounds were isolated and iden tified. The same volatile compounds were present in both sweet cherry varie ties. 'Pico Colorado ' exhibited significantly higher amounts of compounds generated from amino acid degradation, whereas in 'Ambrunes' the more abund ant ones were those volatile compounds coming from fatty acid oxidation.