Ancient apple varieties from Croatia as a source of bioactive polyphenolic compounds

Several ancient apple varieties and a wild apple variety grown in Croatia were analysed for the polyphenol content and compared to two varieties grown in USA. In the flesh, flavanols, dihydrochalcones and phenolic acids (24 to 137, 23 to 109, 3 to 238 mg kg(-1) of fresh weight (FW), respectively) were found. Peel contained flavanols, dihydrochalcones, phenolic acids, flavonols and anthocyanins (65 to 690,21 to 141,0 to 107,205 to 1223,0 to 213 mg kg(-1) FW, respectively). The wild apple was characterized by much higher flavanol and phenolic acid content in the flesh (301 and 734 mg kg(-1) FW, respectively) while the peel was similar to other apples. The polyphenol profile was similar to apples from USA. The varieties Zimnjara, Ljestarka and Adamova zvijezda could be highlighted as sources of polyphenols. Varieties are categorized by the content of dihydrochalcones and flavanols in the flesh (whether that content is high or low), and by the relative portion of phenolic acids and flavanols in the flesh (high phenolic acid proportion, lower flavanol proportion and vice versa). There was not observed to be as strong a pattern for categorizing differences in the peel. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.