Study of the polyphenolic composition and antioxidant activity of new sherry vinegar-derived products by maceration with fruits.

Several experiments of maceration of a sherry wine vinegar with different fruits (orange, lemon, strawberry, grapefruit, and lime) have been carried out. After optimization (only peel, no heating and seven days as maximum time of maceration), parameters such as polyphenolic content, superoxide anion scavenging ability (related to antioxidant activity) and ascorbic acid content were determined in sherry wine vinegars macerated with two amounts of peel and for two maceration times (3 and 7 days). The analysis of variance pointed to a clear relationship (p<0.01) between type of fruit and amount of peel and polyphenolic content. The factor "time" was practically not significant for any polyphenol. Sherry wine vinegars macerated with different fruits exhibited higher superoxide anion scavenger ability, with the maximum values found for the vinegar macerated with lemon peel. The correlation analysis showed that the superoxide anion scavenger ability of the vinegars macerated, and thus their antioxidant activity, was highly correlated (p<0.01) with several polyphenols, especially with naringin, hesperidin, neohesperidin and gentisic acid and not with the ascorbic acid content.