Analysis of Flavor Compounds in Aronia Berries over Ripening

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Date
2017-04-01
Authors
Schaumburg, Jessica
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Honors Projects and Posters
University Honors Program

The Honors project is potentially the most valuable component of an Honors education. Typically Honors students choose to do their projects in their area of study, but some will pick a topic of interest unrelated to their major.

The Honors Program requires that the project be presented at a poster presentation event. Poster presentations are held each semester. Most students present during their senior year, but may do so earlier if their honors project has been completed.

This site presents project descriptions and selected posters for Honors projects completed since the Fall 2015 semester.

Department
Food Science and Human Nutrition
Abstract

Chokeberries, or more commonly, aronia berries (Aronia melanocarpa Viking cultivar), are an up and coming fruit with high antioxidant content and a very dark color. They are grown all over the world, including Iowa. Because of their high amount of antioxidants, they have been touted as a “superfruit” and have begun popping up on store shelves. Identifying and quantifying their flavor compounds throughout ripening can help us understand what kinds of flavors exist in aronia berries and how they change over maturation. This can also help us determine optimal harvest time. Studies have identified volatile compounds in aronia berries before, but this study hopes to look at how these compounds change over ripening. Berries harvested over the month of August 2014 were juiced and analyzed on a gas chromatograph. Trends of various flavor compounds were analyzed with one-way ANOVA to find differences over time. Sugar and acid content were gathered from another study and compared along the flavor compound changes. Preliminary results show that there are some compounds that stay consistent throughout ripening, but others that become more prevalent. Further analysis will be done to identify these compounds. This will help farmers understand when to harvest the berries and what kind of flavor compounds exist in aronia berries at harvest.

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