Apricot cell wall composition: Relation with the intra-fruit texture heterogeneity and impact of cooking

• Published in: Food chemistry 2012-07, Vol.133 (1), p.45-54
• Main Authors: Ella Missang, Crépin, Maingonnat, Jean François, Renard, Catherine M.G.C., Audergon, Jean-Marc
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: apricots; Biological and medical sciences; cell wall components; cell walls; cooked foods; Cooking; cooking quality; degradation; firmness; Food industries; Fruit and vegetable industries; fruit quality; fruits; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hemicellulose; Life Sciences; Pectic fractions; pectins; peduncle; Penetrometry; Prunus armeniaca L; raw fruit; sugars; Texture
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2011.12.059

► We investigate the role of cell wall polysaccharides on apricot fruits texture. ► Firmness changes between the different tissue zones. ► Firmness is inversely proportional to water soluble pectin contents. ► Firmness is proportional to water soluble hemicellulose contents. ► CDTA-soluble pectins are more implicated in texture deterioration during cooking. The intra-fruit texture heterogeneity in fresh apricot fruit, the cell wall of the different tissue zones and those of cooked fruit were analysed in order to investigate the implication of cell wall in apricot texture. Firmness decreased gradually from the external to the internal tissue while from the peduncle to the pistil zone, the highest value in firmness was recorded in the peduncle zone, followed by the pistil zone and finally the equatorial zone. Texture was strongly correlated with water-soluble pectin (WSP), firmness being inversely proportional to WSP contents of the different tissue zones. CDTA-soluble pectin (CSP) underwent noticeable variation between tissues but no clear relationship was observed with firmness. Hemicelluloses extracted together with WSP also appeared to be implicated in tissue texture; highly positive correlation coefficients were observed between firmness and hemicellulosic sugars. After cooking, CSP was the only class of pectin which underwent substantial degradation, indicating that CSP was the pectin fraction most implicated in heat-induced softening in apricot fruit.