Abstract:The effects of different sugar infiltration methods on the color，textural properties，total sugar content，rehydration，microstructure，sensory quality，and volatile components of preserved apricot were investigated.The results showed that the brightness and yellow color of preserved apricot prepared by ultrasonic sugar infiltration were better than those prepared by the other three sugar infiltration methods（P＜0.05）. The hardness，elasticity，and chewiness of the samples prepared by ultrasonic sugar infiltration were also higher than those prepared by vacuum-，microwave-，and boiling-assisted sugar infiltration（P＜0.05）.The preserved apricot prepared by ultrasonic sugar infiltration had lower rehydration rate than that prepared by other sugar infiltration methods（P＜0.05），demonstrating good preservation performance. Scanning electron microscopy showed that ultrasound sugar infiltration could significantly reduce the damage of sugar infiltration to apricot cells，which had strong compactness and intact structures. Moreover，the preserved apricot prepared by ultrasonic sugar infiltration had the highest sensory score of 90.8.The results of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed that the ultrasonic sugar infiltration group had the highest mass fraction（61.89%）of volatile components（aldehydes，alcohols，and esters）of preserved apricot，followed by the boiling-assisted sugar infiltration group（52.96%）and microwave-assisted sugar infiltration group（46.74%），and the vacuum-assisted sugar infiltration group had the lowest mass fraction（29.59%），which indicated that the preserved apricot prepared by ultrasonic sugar infiltration had more fruity，floral，and fragrant flavors than that prepared by other sugar infiltration methods. Comprehensive evaluation suggested that the quality of preserved apricot prepared by ultrasonic sugar infiltration was better，and thus this method was suitable for preserved apricot processing.