Differentiation of Basque cider apple juices from different cultivars by means of chemometric techniques

The composition of 35 cider apple juices obtained from five different varieties, Gezamina, Moko, Goikoetxea, Txalaka and Urtebi were studied. The apples were grown in the Basque Community (Spain) and the juices were characterized on the basis of 14 variables which included physicochemical parameters, sugars, acids and phenolic compounds. Analysis of variance disclosed significant differences (p < 0.05) for 12 parameters, these being the most significant for discrimination, consequently the subsequent multivariate analysis was based on them. Hierarchical cluster and principal component analysis was used to successfully differentiate the apple cultivars. Principal component analysis reduced the dimension space to four factors, accounting for 89.8% of the total variance. Titratable acidity, malic acid, pH, (−)-epicatechin, glucose, and the (−)-epicatechin/chlorogenic acid and glucose/fructose ratios were the variables that allow differentiating of the samples.