Winter collection of the underutilized berry Corema album (L.): New insights on its maturation progression

Increasing interest in Corema album L. is raising due to the appealing white colour and potential health benefits related to its bioactive composition. White fruits production culminates in late August on coastal dunes, but fruits of various colours are present almost till flowering (late February)....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alegria, C., Abreu, Marta, Máguas, C., GIOVANETTI, MANUELA
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Juniper Publishers 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10451/45620
https://doi.org/10.19080/ARTOAJ.2020.24.556274
Description
Summary:Increasing interest in Corema album L. is raising due to the appealing white colour and potential health benefits related to its bioactive composition. White fruits production culminates in late August on coastal dunes, but fruits of various colours are present almost till flowering (late February). We undertook a preliminary physical-chemical characterisation (biometric, CIELab colour, pH, soluble solids content and titrable acidity) of a late fruit collection to disentangle maturity progression and to reveal latent qualities for future utilisation. Irrespective of fruit perceived colouration (white, translucent, brown, brown with black spots and black), the characterized high acidity (1-3 g.100 mL-1) is suggestive that over-mature fruits can still be further explored as food additives. Moreover, using a multivariate exploratory technique, we found a clear fruit’s maturation progression from white/translucent to black, a so-far unreported maturity stage. Addressing gaps in plant phenology and fruit’s maturity behaviour is needed before undertaking cultivation. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion