Free and glycosidically bound aroma compounds in cherry (Prunus avium L.)

This paper reports the occurrence of both free and glycosidically bound aroma compounds in three sweet cherry cultivars (‘Hongdeng’, ‘Hongyan’ and ‘Rainier’), with 97 compounds being identified in the three cultivars. The major free volatile compounds found were hexanal, (E)-2-hexenal, (E)-2-hexen-1-ol, benzyl alcohol and benzaldehyde. The major bound volatile compounds found were benzyl alcohol, geraniol, 2-phenylethanol. Also 4-vinylphenol was found in cherry fruit for the first time, and has a relatively high concentration of the glycosidically-bound form in ‘Rainier’. Odour activity values (OAVs) were determined for both free and bound volatiles, with 18 compounds having an OAV above 1. The highest OAVs for three cultivars were (E)-β-ionone, hexanal, decanal and (E)-2-hexenal with the highest being over 800 for (E)-β-ionone in ‘Honyang’. From these results, it was concluded that the aroma compounds present were similar in all three cultivars, but there was significant variation found in their levels and hence contribution to the aroma of these cultivars.