Abstract:
Many new varieties of mandarins have not been chara
cterized from the nutritional and
organoleptic point of view. It is important to know
this information in order to select the
cultivars of the highest quality. We characterized
the physicochemical properties of 9
commercial early-maturing mandarins from south-east
Spain: Four "Traditional
Clementines" (Clemenules, Orogrande, Arrufatina, Or
onules), 4 "New Clementines"
(Loretina, Mioro, Clemenpons and Clemenrubí or Prim
-23) and one "Satsuma"
(Iwasaqui). ‘Oronules’, ‘Clemenules’ and ‘Iwasaki’
were the varieties that had the highest
fresh weight (>120 g). The “Mioro” variety had the
highest acidity (12.50 g L
-1
), and the
juices from “Loretina” and “Mioro” showed the highe
st values of total soluble solids:
12.77 and 12.57 (ºBrix), respectively. “Loretina” a
nd “Oronules” showed the most
elevated values of total phenolic compounds, with 7
8.75 and 75.56 mg L
-1
respectively.
The main volatile compound was the monoterpene limo
nene. Following limonene in
concentration was
β
ββ
β
-myrcene (25
μ
g L
-1
). “Clemenrubí” was the best variety for fresh
consumption among the 9 examined, due to its high c
ontent of total phenols and ascorbic
acid. Limonene was the main aroma of the mandarin j
uice, and the “Mioro” cultivar
showed a different profile from the rest of cultiva
rs studied according to the principal
component analysis performed.
Keywords:
Citrus, Clementines, Physicochemical properties, S
atsumas.
