Abstract: 【Objective】The eight physicochemical properties of the not from concentrate (NFC) apple juices from sixteen cultivars were investigated in this study. Correlation analysis of all measured variables was applied for simplifying the evaluating indicators of NFC apple juices. Moreover, multivariate data analyses were applied to categorize apple juices, in hope of finding out the alternative cultivars in NFC juice production and intelligent formulation, and thus providing theoretical basis for juice industry.【Method】NFC juices from sixteen cultivars were prepared through squeezing, inactivating enzymes, pasteurization and hot filling. Eight physicochemical properties of sixteen juices, including the total soluble solids (TSS) content, pH value, titratable acidity (TA), TSS/TA, apparent viscosity, turbidity, total phenol content (TPC) and color quality (L^*, a, b, C, ^*h°) were determined, and their differences and correlations of the properties were evaluated using variance analysis and correlation analysis methods, respectively. Additionally, principal component analysis (PCA), liner discriminant analysis (LDA) and cluster analysis (CA) were applied to analyze the data matrix of physicochemical properties to classify sixteen juices.【Result】 The results showed that physicochemical properties of sixteen juices were significantly different. The cultivar ‘Xinshijie’ had the highest TSS content (15.7 °Brix) and turbidity (3 720 NTU), while ‘Granny Smith’ possessed the lowest pH (2.74), ‘Jonathan’ possessed the highest TA value (9.6 g·L^-1, malic acid equivalent), and ‘Qinyan’ had the highest TSS/TA (39.24). Besides, three cultivars ‘Delicious’, ‘Empire’ and ‘Cox’s orange pippin’ showed the highest apparent viscosity (3.75 mPa·s), and ‘Fuji’ possessed the highest TPC (775.94 mg·L^-1, gallic acid equivalent). pH value and TSS/TA were extremely significantly positive correlation (R²=0.844), and turbidity and L^* value also showed extremely positive correlation (R²=0.967, P<0.01). However, pH and TA (R²=-0.896), as well as TSS/TA and TA (R²=-0.918) showed extremely negative correlation (P<0.01). The results from PCA, LDA and CA provided the totally same classification, and the sixteen cultivars were classified into three categories.【Conclusion】The original eight physicochemical properties could be simplified to five indicators, they are TSS, TA, color quality (L^*, a^*, b^*, C^*, h°), apparent viscosity and TPC. These five indicators can be used to reflect overall the quality of NFC apple juices. Based on the classification of juice quality, the cultivar ‘Yuhuazaofu’ and ‘Jonagold’ formed the first group, ‘Xinshijie’ and ‘Qinguan’ constituted the second group, and ‘Starkrimson’, ‘Fuji’, ‘Cox’s orange pippin’, ‘Ziyou’, ‘Qinyan’, ‘Granny Smith’, ‘Qiuxiang’, ‘Pink lady’, ‘Delicious’, ‘Empire’, ‘Liangxiang’, ‘Jonathan’ formed the third group. The cultivars in the same group can be the alternatives in NFC juice production and intelligent formulation.

Key words: apple juice not from concentrate (NFC), quality analysis, classification, alternative varieties