Ancient apple cultivars from Casentino (Italy): rediscovering a reservoir of healthy compounds

Some ancient local apple cultivars show higher nutraceutical properties than commercial ones. However, more information is needed about their effective nutraceutical properties due to the high number of ancient local apple cultivars and the high trait variability traits among them. Three ancient local apple cultivars from Casentino Tuscany (Italy) (namely ‘Rugginosa’, ‘Mora’ and ‘Chitignano’), were characterized for their pomological traits, organoleptic properties, polyphenol content, and antioxidant capacity. All the cultivars analyzed showed a higher polyphenolic content than some selected commercial apple cultivars. Fruits from the cultivar ‘Rugginosa’ also showed the highest content of flavonoids and antioxidant capacity. The data obtained in this work adds knowledge regarding the nutritional and nutraceutical characteristics of these ancient local cultivars, helping small producers to valorise these traditional products.