Comparison of the Physical and Sensory Properties of Hybrid Citrus Fruit Jaffa® Sweetie in Relation to the Parent Fruits

Abstract

In the presented study, an overall Jaffa sweetie evaluation was made to find a correlation between Citrus grandis Osbeck × Citrus paradisi Macf. and its parent fruits’ (Citrus grandis Osbeck, Citrus paradisi Macf.) properties. Based on the sensory analysis, it was found that the taste and aroma of the new hybrid fruit are close to pummelo. By the use of chromatographic analysis, the selected monoterpenes present in the fruits were quantified. α-terpineol was typed as the main monoterpene compound in the headspace of sweetie and grapefruit, with the concentrations: 20.96 and 87.9 μg/g, respectively. In turn, γ-terpinene was chosen as the most important monoterpene determining the flavor of sweetie fruit. Based on two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC-TOF-MS) and principal component analysis (PCA) of the data, several volatile compounds were associated with analyzed fruits’ aroma. Jaffa Sweetie is the hybrid fruit with sensory properties similar to pummelo with a higher content of monoterpenes, which improves its health benefits compared to the parent fruit. The research presents an instrumental method for assessing the aroma properties of the fruit as a reference method for sensory analysis, commonly used in the industry.