TY - JOUR
T1 - Worldwide market screening of saffron volatile composition
AU - Maggi, Luana
AU - Carmona, Manuel
AU - Del Campo, C. Priscila
AU - Kanakis, Charalabos D.
AU - Anastasaki, Eirini
AU - Tarantilis, Petros A.
AU - Polissiou, Moschos G.
AU - Alonso, Gonzalo L.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - BACKGROUND: Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most valuable spices and nowadays its main use is as a foodstuff.
Numerous papers have been published on saffron aroma and its volatile content, but nothing has beenwritten about the aroma quality of samples available on the market to consumers. The aim of this study was to analyse and compare 418 commercial samples of saffron belonging to different ISO categories. Ultrasound-assisted extraction (USAE) with an organic solvent and dynamic headspace desorption (DHD) followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry were used to screen for saffron volatile composition.
RESULTS: For both methods the saffron aromatic profile was characterised by spicy aromatic notes due to safranal, the most abundant volatile component, by a floral contribution attributable to isophorone and 2,2,6-trimethyl-1,4-cyclohexanedione, together with citrus and spicy notes from 4-ketoisophorone and 2-hydroxy-4,4,6-trimethyl-2,5- cyclohexadien-1-one respectively.
CONCLUSION: USAE allowed the detection of a greater number of compounds, whereas DHD was faster and a smaller amount of saffron was required. Compared with the USAE method, the DHD method defined the samples as having a spicier and more floral aromatic contribution, thus corroborating that the extraction method considerably changes the aromatic fingerprint of
saffron samples.
AB - BACKGROUND: Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most valuable spices and nowadays its main use is as a foodstuff.
Numerous papers have been published on saffron aroma and its volatile content, but nothing has beenwritten about the aroma quality of samples available on the market to consumers. The aim of this study was to analyse and compare 418 commercial samples of saffron belonging to different ISO categories. Ultrasound-assisted extraction (USAE) with an organic solvent and dynamic headspace desorption (DHD) followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry were used to screen for saffron volatile composition.
RESULTS: For both methods the saffron aromatic profile was characterised by spicy aromatic notes due to safranal, the most abundant volatile component, by a floral contribution attributable to isophorone and 2,2,6-trimethyl-1,4-cyclohexanedione, together with citrus and spicy notes from 4-ketoisophorone and 2-hydroxy-4,4,6-trimethyl-2,5- cyclohexadien-1-one respectively.
CONCLUSION: USAE allowed the detection of a greater number of compounds, whereas DHD was faster and a smaller amount of saffron was required. Compared with the USAE method, the DHD method defined the samples as having a spicier and more floral aromatic contribution, thus corroborating that the extraction method considerably changes the aromatic fingerprint of
saffron samples.
KW - GC analysis
KW - ISO categories
KW - aroma
KW - saffron (Crocus sativus L.)
KW - volatile composition
KW - GC analysis
KW - ISO categories
KW - aroma
KW - saffron (Crocus sativus L.)
KW - volatile composition
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/28897
U2 - 10.1002/jsfa.3679
DO - 10.1002/jsfa.3679
M3 - Article
SN - 0022-5142
VL - 89
SP - 1950
EP - 1954
JO - Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
JF - Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
ER -