Evolution of amino acids and biogenic amines in natural ciders as a function of the year and the manufacture steps

Abstract

Summary The evolution of biogenic amines and other nitrogen compounds during the elaboration period of natural ciders in two successive seasons and two types of presses was studied. The harvest year affects the concentrations of most of the amino acids, while few of them were affected by the type of press. Asparagine and aspartic acid were the most abundant amino acids in fresh musts followed by α‐alanine, α‐aminobutyric acid, glutamine and glutamic acid. The mean concentrations of these amino acids in the fresh musts from the two harvest years were 12.35, 11.12, 6.45, 6.29, 5.28 and 4.87 mg L−1, respectively. During cidermaking, a decrease in the sum of all amino acids was detected (from 128 ± 54.311 mg L−1 to 22.5 ± 4.863 mg L−1 in 2005 and from 72.2 ± 15.256 mg L−1 to 6.5 ± 4.112 mg L−1 in 2006). Furthermore, significant differences in the concentration of most amino acids related to harvest year were observed. Concerning the biogenic amine content, putrescine was the main and the only amine present in all musts (3.72 ± 1.68 mg L−1) and ciders (3.59 ± 1.83 mg L−1). Histamine was the second biogenic amine of quantitative importance in final ciders (1.15 ± 0.69 mg L−1), and tyramine was only detected in one of the cidermaker cellars at the end of the elaboration period. The low concentrations of biogenic amines in ciders were attributed to the low contents of the corresponding precursor amino acids and do not affect to cider quality.

Apple Aminoacid Profile and Yeast Strains in the Formation of Fusel Alcohols and Esters in Cider Production

“…The aspartic acid, asparagine and glutamic acid amino acids were the majority in all the apple juices, representing 57.10% to 81.96% of the total. Similar results were previously reported by Ye and others () and Garai‐Ibabe and others (). Lequéré and Drilleau () found similar results in industrial apple varieties, but with higher serine contents.…”

Free amino acid composition of apple juices with potential for cider making as determined by UPLC-PDA

“…This finding differs from previous reports of phenylalanine representing only a small proportion of the total amino acids in apples, as low as 0.2–0.4% in dessert apples . Trace amounts of phenylalanine were found in British cider apples , and an average of 1.7–4% of the total amino acids was found in Spanish cider apples . Since phenylalanine made a greater contribution to the total amino acid concentration for the juices in this study than previously reported, the potential impact merited consideration.…”

“…While the proportions of amino acids observed in a juice sample from a given cultivar may be influenced by growing season , crop load , site, rootstock and other factors , our data provide insight as to the extent of variation for each amino acid, and the ranges of relative concentrations of amino acids that could be expected in apple juice. The predominance of asparagine among all other amino acids was consistent with previous studies , although some prior research also reported threonine being the predominant amino acid (53.4%) in Fuji apple juice and aspartic acid being the major amino acid (41.1%) in Brazilian dessert apples .…”

“…These results are similar to the relative concentration of glutamine reported in Spanish cider apples (2.4% on average across six cultivars) . Commercial apples grown in China and other Spanish cider apples contained slightly more glutamine than we observed, with relative concentrations of glutamine of 7.4% across eight cultivars and 6.5% across 17 cultivars, respectively .…”

“…Total amino acid concentration in the juices from 13 cultivars ranged from 18 ± 0.2 mg/L in Blacktwig to 57 ± 0.8 mg/L in Enterprise, with an average of 33 ± 1.5 mg/L. These results are lower than previously reported total amino acid concentrations in Brazilian dessert apple musts (from 192 mg/L to 431 mg/L) , Fuji apples grown in China (617.81 mg/L) , Spanish cider apples (81.39 ± 39.14 mg/L) and British cider apples (average of 63 mg/L for six cultivars) . These differences could be attributable to multiple factors including differences in nitrogen fertilisation practices among growing regions.…”