Sugars and organic acids content in unripe and ripe fruits of Sambucus nigra

Abstract

Elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.) is a common plant used for its medicinal and nutritional properties, as for the beverages, jams, liqueurs, flavourings etc. Plant material examined were leaves and fruits of wild edible, and cultivated elderberry plants (’Haschberg’ and ’Ljubostinja’ selections). Determination of organic acids and sugars was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography. Organic acids found in the tested fruit samples were citric, tartaric, malic, quinic, shikimic and fumaric acids, out of which quinic acid content was the highest in unripe, while citric acid content was the highest in ripe fruits. Wild plants had higher contents of organic acids in unripe fruits (16.7 g 100 g-1dw) than cultivated (’Haschberg’ 6.6, and ’Ljubostinja’ 6.3 g 100 g-1dw). ’Ljubostinja’ selection had significantly higher organic acids content (10.2 g 100 g-1dw) in ripe fruits compared to wild specimen and ’Haschberg’ plants which had similar organic acids content (7.0 and 7.4 g 100 g-1dw). The major organic acid in ripe elderberry fruits was citric acid. When it comes to sugars content the presence of sucrose, glucose, fructose and sorbitol was established. Wild specimen had significantly higher sugars content (2.2 in unripe, and 8.4 g 100 g-1dw in ripe fruits).