Selected Currant Varieties
1. Titania: This is a black currant variety, which produces good quality large fruits that can be machine harvested.
The plants are upright and vigorous and can reach a height of 2 m. Normally, the plants reach full maturity in three seasons as opposed to four to five seasons for most popular varieties.
Table 24.10. Currants Production in Leading Countries and World (Mt)
Country 1980 1990 2000 2005 2009
Russian Federation NA NA 260,000 431,500 314,000
Poland 111,957 130,409 146,780 186,809 196,453
Germany 158,070 146,538 158,300 150,000 11,800
Austria 27,846 24,130 22,861 19,442 19,375
United Kingdom 20,100 16,146 12,300 19,700 12,995
Ukraine NA NA 19,887 24,800 23,200
Czech Republic NA NA 18,089 15,057 3200
Hungary 16,107 15,157 11,848 12,097 7268
France 5915 7519 8382 11,401 8634
Denmark 1316 4000 4000 11,251 12,685
World (Total) 475,844 478,757 690,353 911,659 634,263
Source: FAO (2011).
2. Ben Alder: This is a late-season black currant. The plants are compact and suitable for machine harvesting.
The fruits are small but high in anthocyanins and vi- tamin C. Because of color stability, it is liked for juice production.
3. Red Lake: This is a mid-season ripening red currant variety. Fruits are large and of good quality. This is a good variety for juice production.
4. Jonkheer Van Tets: This is a popular early-season red currant. The plants are susceptible to frost damage. The fruits are medium size and of good flavor.
Selected Gooseberry Varieties
1. Invitica: This variety produces a pale green, large fruit with good flavor suitable for fresh market and process- ing. The plants of this variety are vigorous with spread- ing bush.
2. Xenia: This variety produces dark red fruit with oval shape. The fruit ripens early to mid-season.
3. Hinnonmaki Red: This variety produces dark red fruit of medium size. The flavor is tangy sweet. It adapts well to different growing conditions and can be ma- chine harvested.
PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY
Brix and Flavor
Black currant has higher Brix (16.2◦) than red (9.7◦) and white counterparts (13.0◦). Similarly, the Brix of red goose- berries is slightly higher (12.0◦) than pale green/yellow va- rieties (9.3◦) (Maatta-Riihinen et al. 2004). The aroma of black currants emanates from naturally present ester com- pounds (methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, methyl butanoate, ethyl butanoate, etc.), terpenes (3-Caene, terpinolene, and cis- andtrans-ocimene are major terpenes), terpenoids, al- cohols, aldehydes, and ketones (Mikkelsen and Poll 2002).
Generally, esters are linked with fruity, sweet notes; terpenes with nutty; dry camphor with chemical type of sensation; and aldehydes and ketones with old, earthy notes.
Anthocyanins, Phenolics, and Antioxidant Capacity
Fifteen anthocyanins have been identified in black currant extracts. Of these, delphinidin 3-glucoside, delphinidin 3- rutinoside, cyanidin 3-glucoside, and cyanidin 3-rutinoside Table 24.11. Gooseberry Production in Leading Countries (Mt)
Country 1980 1990 2000 2005 2009
1. Germany 80,979 84,182 88,200 38,039 42,000
2. Russian Federation NA NA 50,000 64,000 47,000
3. Poland 37,023 34,848 28,514 16,719 15,787
4. Ukraine NA NA 8400 8200 6100
5. Czech Republic NA NA 6824 3568 3326
6. Hungary 13,563 8220 4649 1305 1870
7. Austria 1187 1641 1815 1657 1654
8. United Kingdom 7400 2733 1500 1610 2243
World (Total) 220,872 198,590 193,379 136,715 120,931
Source:FAO (2011).
Table 24.12. Anthocyanins, Flavonol, and Total Phenolic Content (mg/100 g) of Black Currants, Red Currants, and Gooseberries
Fruit Anthocyaninsa Flavonolb
Total Phenolicsc 1. Black currant 756–1297 72–87 2230–2790
2. Red currant 113 9.5 1400
3. Gooseberry 83 51 1320
Source:Kahkonen et al. (2001).
aAs cyanidin 3-glucoside.
bAs rutin.
cAs gallic acid.
accounted for⬎97% of the TACY content. Furthermore, the amounts of anthocyanin 3-O-rutinosides were higher than 3-O-glucosides (Slimestad and Solhelm 2002). The notable anthocyanin in red currants was cyanidin 3-O-sambubioside (72 mg/kg fresh weight), and as expected, red currants did not contain any delphinidins (blue-violet pigments) (Maatta et al. 2003). Similarly, red gooseberries contain only cyani- dins (240 mg/kg fresh weight) (Maatta-Riihinen et al. 2004).
Table 24.12 shows concentration of anthocyanin, flavonol, and total phenolics in black currant, red currant, and goose- berry (Kahkonen et al. 2001). As can be seen, black currants contain a very high concentration of these bioactive com- pounds.
Nutritional Quality
Table 24.13 shows typical nutritional data of currants and gooseberry. Black currants have high vitamin C content
(Hakkinen et al. 2000). Black currants also have higher vita- min A and potassium content.
PROCESSED PRODUCTS
Various processes can extend availability of these seasonal fruits throughout the year. Like other fruits, currants and gooseberries can be frozen as IQF or block frozen, and stored for processing.
These fruits find increasing use in pie fillings, jelly, jam, juice, etc. Black currant juice is liked in many parts of Europe.
Black Currant Juice
A process for making black currant juice (Mikkelsen and Poll 2002) is as follows:
In this process, approximately 75% of anthocyanins re- mained in the juice. Important aroma compounds in this juice are terpenes, 3-carene,␣-terpinolene, andcis-ocimene, and esters, ethyl acetate, methyl butanoate, and ethyl butanoate.
During juice processing, the relative concentration of methyl butanoate, ethyl butanoate, and ethyl hexanoate decreased to less than 10%.
Black Currant Nectar
Iversen (1999) made black currant nectar of 16◦Brix (stan- dardized with honey and sugar) and a pH of 3.0 from frozen berries of cv. Ben Lomond. The nectar was pasteurized at 80◦C for 27 seconds in an APV Pasilac plate heat exchanger, model 1090, at flow rate of 180 L/h. Pasteurization caused Table 24.13. Nutritional Values of Selected Currants and Gooseberries
Nutrients/100 g
Black Currants (European), Raw
Currants, Red and White, Raw
Gooseberries Raw
Gooseberries, Canned, Light Syrup Pack
Calories (kcal) 63.0 56.0 44.0 73.0
Total fat (g) 0.41 0.20 0.58 0.20
Saturated fat (g) 0.034 0.017 0.038 0.013
Polyunsaturated fat (g) 0.179 0.088 0.317 0.110
Monounsaturated fat (g) 0.058 0.028 0.051 0.018
Cholesterol (mg) 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.00
Sodium (mg) 2.0 1.0 1.0 2.0
Potassium (mg) 322.0 275 198.0 77.0
Carbohydrate (g) 15.38 13.80 10.18 18.75
Total fiber (g) NA 4.3 4.3 2.4
Sugars (g) NA 7.37 NA NA
Protein (g) 1.40 1.40 0.88 0.65
Calcium (mg) 55.0 33.0 25.0 16.0
Vitamin C (mg) 181.0 41.0 27.7 10.0
Vitamin A (IU) 230.0 42.0 290.0 138.0
Water (g) 81.96 83.95 87.87 80.10
NA, not available.
Source:USDA: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomposition/cgi-bin/list_nut_edit.pl.
about 3–18% and 8–9% loss of ascorbic acid and antho- cyanins, respectively. The choice of pectinase enzyme used in juice extraction mainly affected the recovery of ascorbic acid and not anthocyanins.
r Thaw frozen fruit r Mill/Crush r Heat (75◦C/2 min) r Cool to 50◦C
r Add enzyme (pectinase, Grindamyl LB, Danisco at 0.4 mL per kg of black currant)
r Hold at 50◦C for 2 hours
r Press (using high pressure tincture press HP-5 M) r Pasteurize at 98◦C for 1 minute
r Clarify with gelatin (0.03 g galatin per liter juice and stir)
r Add kieselsol (0.25 g per liter juice, without stirring, to further aid in clarification)
r Filter at room temperature r Pasteurize at 98◦C for 30 seconds r Fill in package
r Chill r Store
Black Currant and Gooseberry Juice Concentrate
Black currants juice can be concentrated to 65◦Brix. This con- centrate usually has 16–18% acidity as citric acid. This con- centrate can be used to make single-strength juice of 11◦Brix.
Red currant and gooseberry concentrates can also be used to make single-strength juice of 10.5◦Brix and 8.3◦Brix, respec- tively.
Jelly and Jam
Currants and gooseberries can be made into jellies (45 parts fruit components and 55 parts sweetener solids; the finished soluble solids content is 65◦Brix) and jams and preserves (47 parts by weight of the fruit component to 55 parts of sugar;
the finished product should be of minimum 65◦Brix).
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