Although the isoflavone genistein has well-established health-beneficial effects, it is not a major component of Western diet, since soy consumption, the main dietary source of genistein, is low in these populations. Genistein compounds were studied in twelve commercial sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) cultivars grown in Hungary. High performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry, equipped with electrospray ion source (HPLC-ESI-qTOFMS) was used for screening and confirmatory analyses. Genistin and genistein were found in some Hungarian native sour cherry cultivars including ‘Pipacs1’, ‘Kántorjánosi’, ‘Debreceni bőtermő’ and ‘Éva’. Genistein content in fruits of the latter three cultivars ranged between 0.4 to 0.6 mg, while in ‘Pipacs1’ a total of 4.4 mg genistein compounds (expressed as aglycone equivalents per 100 g of fresh fruit) was determined. These cultivars may play an important role as complementary genistein sources in the Western diet. Especially ‘Pipacs 1’, may be best utilized in functional food products
