| dc.description.abstract | Dried fruit is classified as a nutritionally highly valued food due to its high content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity. Furthermore, due to a high content of natural sugars giving the body the necessary energy, dried fruit is an essential part of a balanced meal. Therefore, the aim of our paper is to examine the quality of dried sour cherry from newly developed and indigenous cultivars originating from Serbia. Sour cherry cultivars and promising genotypes developed at Fruit Research Institute, Čačak ('Šumadinka', 'Sofija', 'Nevena' and 'GV-10') and autochthonous cultivars 'Oblačinska' and 'Feketićka' were used for testing. Drying of pitted fruit was performed in an experimental drier at an air temperature of 70 °C until reaching 75% of the total dry matter. Contents of total dry matter, sugars, total acids, as well as sugar/acid ratio and pH value were determined in fresh fruit. Large discrepancies manifested in the values of evaluated parameters point to distinct varietal specificities. Besides the aforementioned parameters, total phenols and antioxidant capacity, as well as sensory characteristics (appearance, flavour, aroma, and consistency) were analyzed in dried sour cherry fruits. Based on the results of sensory analyses of dried sour cherry fruits, the cultivar 'Feketićka' had the best, whereas cultivar 'Šumadinka' received the lowest grades, which is consistent with the sugar/acid ratio. On the other side, dried fruits of cultivar 'Feketićka' had the lowest values of contents of total phenolics and antioxidant capacity, whereas the highest values were found in cultivar 'Sofija'. Based on evaluated quality parameters, all tested cultivars have been found suitable for processing by drying. Sensory analysis revealed that the dried fruits of all tested sour cherries had supreme sensory quality. | sr |
