Characterization of polyphenols, sugars, and other polar compounds in persimmon juices produced under different technologies and their assessment in terms of compositional variations

Persimmon juice is emerging in the global juice market as a new wholesome commercial juice that could effectively complement a healthy diet, given the epidemiological evidence linking a diet rich in fruits and vegetables with reduced incidences of chronic diseases. However, little data are available on the persimmon-juice composition or on the effect of the technological treatment employed for its production. The present work performs a complete qualitative analytical characterization through high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-TOF/MS) of the diverse persimmon juices produced under different technologies in a pilot plant (clarification, astringency removal, flash vacuum expansion, centrifugation and pasteurization) in order to evaluate the effect of the different production procedures on the polar chemical profile of persimmon juice. Persimmon-juice extracts have been found to be a source of sugars, protein derivatives, organic acids, vitamins, and polyphenols, including simple polyphenols (phenolic acids and flavonoids) and polymerized flavan-3-ols. A marked influence of processing on the composition of the juices has been noticed. Extracts 3 and 7 (undergoing the combinations of clarification and centrifugation, and astringency removal, centrifugation and pasteurization, respectively) contained more polyphenols, which may help reduce risk of chronic diseases.