Sensory, Nutritive and Functional Properties of Sweet Cherry as Affected by Cultivar and Ripening Stage

In this article 11 commercial sweet cherry cultivars were selected to evaluate sensory, nutritive and func-tional properties over the maturation process on tree. Fruit quality was significantly different among cultivars and maturity stages at harvest, with the highest quality scores being found in the harvest which was 4 days beyond current commercial harvest maturity for all the cultivars tested. Taking into account all of the measured parameters (weight, firmness, color, acidity and total soluble solids), ‘NY-6479’, ‘Prime Giant ’ and ‘Sunburst ’ could be classified as having the highest quality in terms of sensory attributes. However, ‘Cristalina ’ and ‘Sonata ’ had the highest functional quality, as determined by the measurement of bioactive compound content and antioxidant capacity. We conclude that a delay of a few days in harvesting of sweet cherries would lead to achieve maximal nutritional (highest sugar and organic acid contents), sensory (greatest firmness and color development) and functional (greatest phe-nolics content, anthocyanins and antioxidant capacity) quality to provide both eating enjoyment and health benefits to the consumer. Key Words: sweet cherry, ripening, antioxidants, phenolics, qualit