Physicochemical properties and aroma volatile profiles in a diverse collection of California-grown pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) germplasm

Colorful antioxidant-rich fruits often convey astringency and sourness that juice consumers may not appreciate. We assessed properties in juices from a collection of California-grown pomegranate from the National Clonal Germplasm Repository. The goal was to evaluate overall differences in germplasm with quality traits classified as sweet, sweet-sour and sour. Previous relationships noted in sweet and sour cultivar attributes were observed. Wonderful generally clustered with sweet-sour and sour cultivars. Sweet low acid cultivars occasionally clustered closely with Wonderful which is hard to rationalize. The dominant compounds were 3-hexenol and 1-hexanol which allowed separation of Kara Gul, Haku-botan and Wonderful. Aldehyde and terpene content can be used to characterize cultivars. The study represents the first data on variation in juice qualities in different sweet, sweet-sour and sour cultivars, grown in California, compared with Wonderful. Data may help the juice industry better select raw juice materials in order to ultimately satisfy consumers.