Effect of Climate and Roasting on Polyphenols and Tocopherols in the Kernels and Skin of Six Hazelnut Cultivars (Corylus avellana L.)

Poland is one of the largest producers of hazelnuts in Europe; however, information about the contents of biologically active compounds in hazelnuts grown in Poland is limited. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the concentrations of phenolic acids, flavonols, and tocopherols in raw and roasted hazelnut kernels and their skin, in addition to determining the effect of the cultivar and year of cultivation. The experiment was carried out in 2016-2018, and the nuts of six hazelnut cultivars were used for research purposes. Among the detected phenolic acids, p-coumaric acid was the most abundant in roasted and unroasted kernels, whereas the apigenin content represented 43%-45% of the total flavonols. The harvest year had a significant effect on the polyphenol content of hazelnuts, whereas roasting had a minor impact. The hazelnut skin contained 168- to 378- fold higher contents of total phenolic compounds than the raw and roasted nuts. Gallic acid was the most abundant phenolic acid in hazelnut skin, contributing 95.0% of the total polyphenols on average. alpha-Tocopherol was the most abundant tocopherol in the hazelnut cultivars, followed by beta + & x1b4;-tocopherol and delta-tocopherol in hazelnut cultivars. The statistical analysis showed that roasting and year of cultivation did not affect the tocopherol contents of the investigated samples.