ARS | Publication request: Flavour Profiling of 'Marion' and Thornless Blackberries by Instrumental and Sensory Analysis

Submitted to: Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: January 22, 2010
Publication Date: August 2, 2010
Citation: Du, X., Kurnianta, A., Mcdaniel, M., Finn, C.E., Qian, M.C. 2010. Flavour profiling of 'Marion' and thornless blackberries by instrumental and sensory analysis. Food Chemistry. 121:1080-1088.

Interpretive Summary: 'Marion' blackberry is the number one processing blackberry in the world, and it is renowned for its fruit quality, especially its flavor. This study used sensory panels as well as instrumental analysis of sugars, acids, volatiles, and pH to assess fruit flavor for a wide variety of currently grown or new blackberry cultivars and selections. It was especially important to see how these different cultivars compared to the industry standard 'Marion'. The taste data only partly matched the sugar and titratable acidity data. Descriptive aroma analysis indicated that 'Black Diamond', 'Black Pearl', 'Wild Treasure' (ORUS 1843-3) and NZ 9351-4 were similar to 'Marion' in terms of fresh fruit, strawberry, floral and raspberry aroma, while 'Thornless Evergreen', 'Chester Thornless', 'Nightfall', and 'Waldo' had more vegetal, woody, mouldy, and cooked fruit character. Odour-active compounds of furaneol, linalool, geraniol, ethyl hexanaote, trans-2-hexenol, and b-ionone in 'Marion', 'Black Diamond', 'Black Pearl', ORUS 1843-3, and NZ 9351-4 could account for their similarity in fresh fruity, floral, strawberry, and raspberry aroma; while 1-octen-3-ol, myrtenol, eugenol, and a-terpineol in 'Thornless Evergreen', 'Chester Thornless', 'Nightfall', and 'Waldo' could account for their vegetal, woody, mouldy, and cooked fruit flavour. Processors who like the 'Marion' flavor profile can probably consider using the thornless 'Black Diamond', 'Black Pearl', 'Wild Treasure' (ORUS 1843-3) and NZ 9351-4 in their formulations as a complement or replacement of the thorny 'Marion'.

Technical Abstract: The flavour of thornless blackberries grown in Pacific Northwest including 'Thornless Evergreen', 'Black Diamond', 'Black Pearl', 'Nightfall', ORUS 1843-3, 'Waldo', NZ 9351-4, and 'Chester Thornless' as well as 'Marion' was profiled by sensory evaluation and instrumental analysis. Sensory results showed that 'Marion' and 'Waldo' had the lowest sweetness score, while NZ 9351-4 and 'Thornless Evergreen' had the highest sweetness scores. 'Nightfall' and ORUS 1843-3 had significantly lower sourness, while 'Black Diamond' and 'Waldo' had significantly higher sourness. The taste data only partly matched with the objective Brix and titratable acidity data. Descriptive aroma analysis indicated that 'Black Diamond', 'Black Pearl', ORUS 1843-3, and NZ 9351-4 were similar to 'Marion' in terms of fresh fruit, strawberry, floral, and raspberry aroma, while 'Thornless Evergreen', 'Chester Thornless', 'Nightfall', and 'Waldo' had more vegetal, woody, mouldy, and cooked fruit character. Instrumental analysis and calculated odour activity values (OAVs) indicated that furaneol, linalool, b-ionone, 2-heptanol, and carvone could be the major aroma contributing compounds in these blackberries. Generalised Procrusters analysis (GPA) indicated the chemical analysis matched with descriptive sensory analysis. Odour-active compounds of furaneol, linalool, geraniol, ethyl hexanaote, trans-2-hexenol, and b-ionone in 'Marion', 'Black Diamond', 'Black Pearl', ORUS 1843-3, and NZ 9351-4 could account for their similarity in fresh fruity, floral, strawberry, and raspberry aroma; while 1-octen-3-ol, myrtenol, eugenol, and a-terpineol in 'Thornless Evergreen', 'Chester Thornless', 'Nightfall', and 'Waldo' could account for their vegetal, woody, mouldy, and cooked fruit flavour.