Effect of the processing in the phenolic compounds content and antioxidant activity in apple wine

Abstract

In the apple processing the phenolic compounds play a remarkable role in sensorial and functional aspects like color and flavor, and antioxidant activity, respectively. This work was done aiming to evaluate the effect of the different operations and the alcoholic fermentation in the phenol content and the antioxidant activity in apple wine processing. The phenol content of apple must without enzymatic oxidation was 1085±265; 958±94 and 787±64 mg.L-1 for the varieties Gala, Joaquina and Fuji, respectively. After the despectinization and filtration step, with total oxidation, the values had been reduced for 451±6.4; 408±4.2 and 255±9.5 mg.L-1. The losses were observed up to 9 hours of fermentation and after this period the values of phenols remain steady until the end of the process (360 hours). The antioxidant activity showed similar effect, with an initial content in apple must without enzymatic oxidation of 10807±1530; 8473±853 and 6449±1272 µM for Gala, Fuji and Joaquina, and after the despectinização and filtration with enzymatic oxidation, the values decreased to 4376±63; 1909±84 and 2889±55 µM. The main losses of phenolics compounds and antioxidant activity in the fermentation processing of apple must occurred during the reaction of enzymatic browning within the operations of depectinization and filtration.