Not-from-concentrate pilot plant ‘Wonderful’ cultivar pomegranate juice changes: Volatiles

• Solid-phase microextraction isolated 46 compounds in pasteurized ‘Wonderful’ juice.
• ANOVA analysis of 38, and 18 of 21 consensus compounds found through processing.
• 1-Hexanol, (E)-3-hexen-1-ol, α-terpineol, limonene and p-cymene were most abundant.
• After pasteurization significant volatile declines at 4 °C and 25 °C storage.
• Possibly first not-from-concentrate pomegranate juice volatiles report.

Pilot plant ultrafiltration was used to mimic the dominant U.S. commercial pomegranate juice extraction method (hydraulic pressing whole fruit), to deliver a not-from-concentrate (NFC) juice that was high-temperature short-time pasteurized and stored at 4 and 25 °C. Recovered were 46 compounds, of which 38 were routinely isolated and subjected to analysis of variance to assess these NFC juices. Herein, 18 of the 21 consensus pomegranate compounds were recovered. Ultrafiltration resulted in significant decreases for many compounds. Conversely, pasteurization resulted in compound increases. Highly significant decreases in 12 consensus compounds were observed during storage. Principal component analysis demonstrated clearly which compounds were tightly associated, and how storage samples behaved very similarly, independent of temperature. Based on these data and previous work we reported, this solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method delivered a robust ‘Wonderful’ volatile profile in NFC juices that is likely superior qualitatively and perhaps quantitatively to typical commercial offerings.

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