Flavor chemistry of virgin olive oil: An overview

Virgin olive oil (VOO) has unique chemical characteristics among all other vegetable oils which are of paramount importance for human health. VOO constituents are also responsible of its peculiar flavor, a complex sensation due to a combination of aroma, taste, texture, and mouthfeel or trigeminal sensations. VOO flavor depends primarily on the concentration and nature of volatile and phenolic compounds present in olive oil which can change dramatically depending on agronomical and technological factors. Another aspect that can change the flavor perception is linked to the oral process during olive oil tasting. In fact, in this case, some human physiological and matrix effects modulate the flavor release in the mouth. The present review aims to give an overview on VOO flavor, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms affecting its production and release during a tasting

The flavor chemistry of fortified wines: a comprehensive approach

For centuries, wine has had a fundamental role in the culture and habits of different civilizations. Amongst numerous wine types that involve specific winemaking processes, fortified wines possess an added value and are greatly honored worldwide. This review comprises the description of the most important characteristics of the main worldwide fortified wines—Madeira, Port, Sherry, Muscat, and Vermouth—structured in three parts. The first part briefly describes the chemistry of wine flavor, the origin of typical aroma (primary, secondary and tertiary), and the influencing parameters during the winemaking process. The second part describes some specificities of worldwide fortified wine, highlighting the volatile composition with particular emphasis on aroma compounds. The third part reports the volatile composition of the most important fortified wines, including the principal characteristics, vinification process, the evolution of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the aging processes, and the most important odor descriptors. Given the worldwide popularity and the economic relevance of fortified wines, much research should be done to better understand accurately the reactions and mechanisms that occur in different stages of winemaking, mainly during the oxidative and thermal aging.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Flavor chemistry of butter culture

Numerous investigations have been made on the contribution of butter cultures to the flavor of cultured cream butter, but production of uniform cultured cream butter has not been possible in industry. Therefore, it was desirable to investigate in detail the qualitative and quantitative chemistry of the flavor of high quality butter cultures, and to examine more closely some of the aspects of flavor production by butter culture organisms. Volatile flavor components of high quality butter culture and control heated milk were isolated from intact samples by means of a specially designed low-temperature, reduced-pressure steam distillation apparatus. Most of the flavor compounds present in the resulting distillate fractions were tentatively identified by gas chromatographic relative retention time data. Flavor concentrates obtained by ethyl ether extractions of aqueous distillates were also separated by temperature-programmed, capillary column gas chromatography, and the effluent from the capillary column was analyzed by a fast- scan mass spectrometer. Many of the flavor compounds in the flavor concentrates were positively identified by correlation of mass spectral and gas chromatographic data. In addition, supporting evidence for the identification of some flavor components was obtained through the use of qualitative functional group reagents, derivatives and headspace gas chromatography. Compounds that were positively identified in butter culture include ethanol, acetone, ethyl formate, methyl acetate, acetaldehyde, diacetyl, ethyl acetate, dimethyl sulfide, butanone, 2-butanol, methyl butyrate, ethyl butyrate, methane, methyl chloride, carbon dioxide and methanol; also included were 2-pentanone, 2-heptanone, acetoin, formic acid, acetic acid, lactic acid, 2-furfural, 2-furfurol, methyl hexanoate, ethyl hexanoate, 2-nonanone, 2-undecanone, methyl octanoate and ethyl octanoate. Compounds that were tentatively identified in butter culture include hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, n-butanal, n-butanol, 2-hexanone, n-pentanal, n-pentanol, 2-mercaptoethanol, n-butyl formate, n-butyl acetate, 2-methylbutanal, 3-methylbutanal, methylpropanal, methyl heptanoate, n-octanal, 2-tridecanone, methyl benzoate, methyl nonanoate, ethyl nonanoate, ethyl decanoate, methyl dodecanoate, ethyl dodecanoate, delta-octalactone and delta-decalactone. Compounds that were positively identified in control heated milk include acetaldehyde, ethyl formate, ethyl acetate, 2-heptanone, 2-furfural, 2-furfurol, 2-nonanone, 2-undecanone, ethyl octanoate and methyl decanoate. Compounds that were tentatively identified in control heated milk include dimethyl sulfide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, methyl mercaptan, methyl acetate, acetone, methanol, butanone, butanal, n-butanol, methyl butyrate, ethyl butyrate, 2-pentanone, 2-hexanone, 2-mercaptoethanol, 2-furfuryl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, methyl heptanoate, 2-tridecanone, ethyl decanoate, ethyl dodecanoate, delta-octalactone and delta-decalactone. The data indicated that the qualitative flavor composition of control heated milk and butter culture were very similar. Diacetyl, ethanol, 2-butanol and acetic acid were noted to be consistently absent in the data for the control heated milk. Other compounds were not observed in the heated milk fractions, but were also absent from some of the culture fractions. This was attributed to their presence in low concentrations, chemical instability or inefficient recovery. A modified 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolone hydrazone spectrophotometric procedure was adapted for the determination of acetaldehyde produced in lactic starter cultures. The procedure was applied in conjunction with diacetyl measurements in studying single- and mixed-strain lactic cultures. The diacetyl to acetaldehyde ratio was found to be approximately 4:1 in desirably flavored mixed-strain butter cultures. When the ratio of the two compounds was lower than 3:1 a green flavor was observed. Acetaldehyde utilization at 21°C by Leuconostoc citrovorum 91404 was very rapid in both acidified (pH 4.5) and non-acidified (pH 6.5) milk cultures. The addition of five p.p.m. of acetaldehyde to non-acidified milk media prior to inoculation greatly enhanced growth of L. citrovorum 91404 during incubation at 21°C. Combinations of single-strain organisms demonstrated that the green flavor defect can result from excess numbers of Streptococcus lactis or Streptococcus diacetilactis in relation to the L. citrovorum population. Diacetyl, dimethyl sulfide, acetaldehyde, acetic acid and carbon dioxide were found to be "key" compounds in natural butter culture flavor. Optimum levels of these compounds in butter culture were ascertained by chemical or flavor panel evaluations. On the basis of these determinations, a synthetic butter culture prepared with heated whole milk and delta-gluconolactone (final pH 4.65) was flavored with 2.0 p.p.m. of diacetyl, 0.5 p.p.m. of acetaldehyde, 1250 p.p.m. of acetic acid, 25.0 p.p.b. of dimethyl sulfide and a small amount of sodium bicarbonate for production of carbon dioxide. The resulting synthetic butter culture exhibited the typical aroma, flavor and body characteristics found in natural high quality butter cultures, except that the delta-gluconolactone was found to contribute an astringent flavor

Flavor chemistry of irradiated milk fat

Increasing interest has been shown in the irradiation sterilization and irradiation pasteurization of foods, but problems of off-flavors and odors are still unsolved, especially in the case of dairy products. From the flavor chemistry point of view, milk lipids are very highly susceptible to irradiation effects. Therefore, this investigation was designed to study some irradiation induced reactions involving flavor changes in the milk fat and to identify the volatile components produced in the milk fat upon irradiation. Milk fat, prepared from raw sweet cream and washed free of phospholipids, was first irradiated in the presence of air and under vacuum in glass vials at 4.5 Mrad with gamma rays from cobalt-60. The irradiation resulted in increase in TBA number, peroxide value, total monocarbonyls, bleaching of color, slightly rancid and typical candle-like off-flavors. Free fatty acids were also produced upon irradiation. The changes were more drastic in air along with production of a slight oxidized flavor. The monocarbonyls identified by column and paper chromatographic methods in irradiated milk fat include: C₁ through C₁₂, C₁₄ , and C₁₆ n-alkanals; C₃ through C₉, C₁₁, C₁₃ and C₁₅ alk-2-ones with only traces of C₆ and C₈ alk-2- ones; and C₅, C₆, C₉, and C₁₂ alk-2-enals. Irradiation of milk fat that had been dried over calcium hydride also caused free fatty acid production, especially short chain fatty acids. Methyl octanoate treated with calcium hydride and irradiated at 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, and 6.0 Mrad yielded small quantities of free octanoic acid, confirming that irradiation caused fission of the ester linkage even when traces of water were removed. The quantities of octanoic acid formed increased with increasing dose of irradiation. For identification of volatile components, the milk fat was irradiated in 307x409 'C' enameled cans under vacuum. The headspace analysis showed some air still left in the cans. Irradiation resulted in consumption of oxygen and production of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane as identified in the headspace gases. The volatiles were isolated from the irradiated and control milk fats by low temperature, vacuum steam distillation at 40°C and 1-2 mm Hg. The volatile components were then extracted from the aqueous distillate with ethyl ether. The ethyl ether extract exhibited the typical candle-like defect. The ethyl ether concentrate was analyzed by combination of GLC and fast-scan mass spectrometric techniques. Identification of various components was achieved on the basis of mass spectral data and coincidence of gas chromatographic retention times. In the case of the components for which only GLC t[subscript r]/t[subscript r] evidence was available or the mass spectra obtained were not satisfactory, the identity assigned was only tentative. The volatile compounds that were positively identified to be present in irradiated milk fat are given below: n-Alkanes C₅ through C₁₇ 1-Alkenes C₅, C₇ through C₁₇ Fatty acids C₄, C₆, C₈ and C₁₀ n-Alkanals C₅ through C₁₁ Others γ-decalactone, δ-decalactone, 2-heptanone, benzene, ethyl acetate, chloroform, and dichlorobenzene. The tentative identification was obtained for the following compounds: γ-lactones C₆ and C₈ δ-lactones C₆, C₈, C₁₁, and C₁₂ 1, ?-alkadienes C₁₀, C₁₁, C₁₂, C₁₆ and C₁₇ iso-alkanes C₁₀, C₁₁, C₁₂, and C₁₃ Others methyl hexanoate, 2-hexanone, 4-heptanone and n-dodecanal. The compounds present in unirradiated control milk fat included: short chain fatty acids (C₄, C₆, C₈, and C₁₀), C₈, C₁₀, and C₁₂ δ-lactones, 2-heptanone, chloroform, dichlorobenzene, benzene, toluene, and ethyl-benzene. Only tentative identity was established for most of these components in control milk fat. Possible reaction mechanisms are presented for the formation of the compounds in irradiated milk fat

Hybrid Extraction Method; Innovative Method to Produce Non Oxidative Tuna Oil

Summary: The function of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid such as DHA, EPA are now well known world widely through strong scientific evidences and the importance of nutritional value and popularity are increasing every day all over the world with the name of omega 3 fatty acids.^1,2,3^ However, the fish oil, the source of omega 3 fatty acid had been considered as very vulnerable to oxidation. Many papers say the reason why is because its very easy to oxidize fish oil. The greater the Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid contents in the fish oil is, the faster oxidation takes place.^4,5^ Here I show that tuna oil extracted from Albacore Tuna Head in closed circuit under low temperature, at first decompressing then pressurizing and heating in a container, is very stable against the oxidation and conserved natural contents of Vitamins richly. The oil ware kept in a transparent bottle under natural light and some time under the sun light, with room temperature and opened every day for the sensual odor test during three months. This oil showed a stability of Fatty Acid Composition, Acid Value and Peroxide Value. That mean omega 3 fatty acids are more easy to handle and ample use as food ingredient to put it in many foods such as in a ketchup, mayonnaise, bread and noodle, rather than use in the capsules only

Wine, Fraud and Expertise

While fraud has existed in various forms throughout the history of wine, the establishment of the fine and rare wine market generated increased opportunities and incentives for producing counterfeit wine. In the contemporary fine and rare wine market, wine fraud is a serious concern. The past several decades witnessed significant events of fine wine forgery, including the infamous Jefferson bottles and the more recent large-scale counterfeit operation orchestrated by Rudy Kurniawan. These events prompted and renewed market interest in wine authentication and fraud detection. Expertise in wine is characterized by the relationship between subjective and objective judgments. The development of the wine fraud expert draws attention to the emergence of expertise as an industry response to wine fraud and the relationship between expert judgment and modern science

Carbocations and the Complex Flavor and Bouquet of Wine: Mechanistic Aspects of Terpene Biosynthesis in Wine Grapes.

Computational chemistry approaches for studying the formation of terpenes/terpenoids in wines are presented, using five particular terpenes/terpenoids (1,8-cineole, α-ylangene, botrydial, rotundone, and the wine lactone), volatile compounds (or their precursors) found in wine and/or wine grapes, as representative examples. Through these examples, we show how modern computational quantum chemistry can be employed as an effective tool for assessing the validity of proposed mechanisms for terpene/terpenoid formation