Phenolic Compounds, Volatiles, and Sensory Characteristics of Twelve Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium L.) Cultivars Grown in Turkey

The paper reports the phenolic, anthocyanin, and volatile compounds and sensory characteristics of 12 cultivars of sweet cherries including cvs. Belge, Bing, Dalbasti, Durona di Cesena, Lambert, Merton Late, Starks Gold, Summit, Sweetheart, Van, Vista, and 0-900 Ziraat. Eight individual phenolic compounds were determined by the HPLC-DAD method. Among these cherries, cvs. Bing, Durona di Cesena, and Lambert contained higher levels of total individual phenolic compounds than the other cultivars. Six anthocyanins were detected in cherries and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside was principal and it was the highest level in cv. Bing. The major volatiles found were 1-hexanol, (E)-2-hexen-1-ol, benzylalcohol, hexenal, (E)-2-hexenal, and benzaldehyde. Sensory evaluation of the cherries showed that cvs. Belge, Bing, Dalbasti, and Summit have higher textural and flavor scores than others. It was concluded that the same compounds for phenolic or volatiles profiles of sweet cherries were similar in qualitative; however, quantitative differences were observed in these cultivars.