Effect of Cultivar and Cold Storage of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Juices on Organic Acid Composition

The purpose of this study was to identify and quantify organic acids of 25 Iranian pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cultivars using HPLC. The juices (of three selected cultivars) were evaluated by individual calculation from the peak areas based on standard curves of each organic acid type during a period of 60 days of cold storage at 4oC. The major acids identified were citric (0.0 - 3763.6), malic (2.3 - 366.3), succinic (0.0 - 134.4), tartaric (25.7 - 106.8), acetic (0.0 - 76.1), oxalic (10.3 - 55.1), shikimik (0.0 - 47.4), maleic (0.04 - 19.20), fumaric (0.0 - 15.39), and ascorbic (0.0 - 12.0) mg/100g. Citric acid predominated in most cultivars and in the others tartaric and malic acid were predominant. After cold storage of three selected pomegranate juices for 60 days, results showed that the total amounts of organic acids decreased, but malic and maleic acids content increased. Initially, the amounts of some acids such as oxalic and citric increased and then decreased and contents of shikimik, succinic, ascorbic and fumaric acid decreased.