New or lesser known cultivar selection as a tool for sensory and nutritional value enhancement of osmo-convectively dried sour cherries

Taking into consideration the economic importance of sour cherry growing in Europe as well as the arising perspective of novel sour cherry product development, an investigation outlining the processing usefulness of some promising sour cherry cultivars that could lead to a better final product quality was undertaken. Nine new or lesser popular cultivars of sour cherries were compared to ‘English Morello’ with particular consideration given to processing suitability for osmo-convective drying. The quality of raw material was characterized taking into account fruit size, soluble solids content, acidity and pro-health properties. To assess the quality trait stability of individual cultivars, standard deviations were calculated. As a measure of ascertaining the fruits' suitability for drying, the sensory properties of osmo-dried products produced by the examined cultivars were considered. The gathered data demonstrates high seasonal variations in quality traits of the most investigated cultivars, which could well restrict their processing usefulness, especially for osmo-drying, as this product was found highly sensitive to fluctuation of raw material uniformity. Among the tested cultivars ‘Nefris’ emerged the most suitable for processing purposes. Fruits of this cultivar gave high quality dried product of repeatable sensory attributes characterized by significantly better pro-health properties than that of ‘English Morello’.