Abstract
Ten South African plum cultivars and selections, including yellow- and red-fleshed plums from two harvest seasons were evaluated in terms of nutraceutical value (phenolic composition, total polyphenol content (TPC) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC)) and fruit attributes (colour, fruit mass, etc.). Plums were evaluated at two maturity stages, i.e., directly after harvest (unripe) and after a commercial cold storage and ripening regime (ripe). The phenolic composition of South African plums varied greatly, both qualitatively and quantitatively, between cultivars and selections. Neochlorogenic acid, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and quercetin-3-O-glucoside were the predominant hydroxycinnamic acid, anthocyanin and flavonol, respectively, although not present in all plums. The flavan-3-ols, (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin and procyanidins B1 and B2, were present in all plums. Red-fleshed plums tended to display higher TAC and TPC than yellow-fleshed plums. The flavan-3-ol content was highly correlated with TAC. The effect of harvest season was cultivar-dependent, but cultivar differences were not obscured. In terms of maturity stage, the ripe fruits tended to contain higher levels of anthocyanins and some flavonol compounds, although the TPC and TAC were not affected in most cases. South African plums, especially the red-fleshed selections PR04-32 and PR04-35, were shown to provide generally high TAC and TPC compared to literature values.