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Musk strawberries: the flavour of a formerly famous fruit reassessed
Author(s) -
Pet'ka Ján,
Leitner Erich,
Parameswaran Baskaran
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
flavour and fragrance journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.393
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1099-1026
pISSN - 0882-5734
DOI - 10.1002/ffj.3095
Subject(s) - chemistry , aroma , fragaria , flavour , gas chromatography–mass spectrometry , gas chromatography , horticulture , botany , food science , chromatography , mass spectrometry , biology
Fruits of wildly growing and naturally ripened musk strawberries ( Fragaria moschata ) from two highland sites were studied during two seasons. The fruits were characterized on site by two flavourists and a full profile of the volatile compounds was extracted immediately after collection using solid phase extraction and analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) and gas chromatography–olfactometry (GC‐O). The aroma of whole fruits was characterized with dynamic headspace coupled to GC‐MS. Single fruits evaluated on site were characterized by green, spicy, seedy and sweet exotic notes, while the fruit bunches showed a complex tropical smell. More than 100 distinctive volatile compounds were detected by GC‐MS. Some of them are reported for the first time in the Fragaria species, most notably the abundant coniferyl alcohol. GC‐O revealed that mesifuran, eugenol, methyl butyrate, furaneol and 3‐mercaptohexyl acetate were the key components of the highland musk strawberry flavour. A comparison of the volatile pattern with the much more known woodland strawberry ( F. vesca ) from a nearby location contrasted the differences in the volatile composition of the musk strawberry. Repeated analysis of fruits harvested 2 years after the first vintage confirmed these data. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.