Chemical and sensory characterization of plum spirits obtained from cultivar Cacanska Rodna and its parent cultivars

During the two-year research, a comparative analysis of the contents of 24 major volatile compounds and sensory characteristics of the plum spirits produced by spontaneous alcoholic fermentation of the plum mashes with or without stones from cultivar Cacanska Rodna and its parent cultivars - Stanley and Pozegaca were carried out. The plum spirits obtained from Cacanska Rodna cultivar contain lower amounts of methanol, 1-hexanol, ethyl acetate and acetaldehyde and higher amounts of 3-methyl-1-butanol and 2-phenyl-ethanol than the spirits from its parent cultivars. Contents of 1-propanol, 1-butanol and hexanoic acid in the spirits obtained from Cacanska Rodna cultivar were lower than the contents in the spirits from Pozegaca and higher than those in the spirits obtained from Stanley. The sensory quality of plum spirits, in addition to the cultivar, has been significantly influenced by the presence of stones in the mash during processing of plums into spirits. In processing plums with stones, the best-graded plum spirit was from Pozegaca (17.88), whereas in processing without stones, the best was Cacanska Rodna spirit (17.78). The spirits obtained from Stanley cultivar had the lowest sensory grades regardless of the processing method.