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Corky off‐flavor compounds in cork planks at different storage times before processing. Influence on the quality of the final stoppers
Author(s) -
Alañón M Elena,
Alarcón Marina,
DíazMaroto Ignacio J,
PérezCoello M Soledad,
DíazMaroto M Consuelo
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.11119
Subject(s) - cork , flavor , seasoning , chemistry , food science , pulp and paper industry , chromatography , raw material , organic chemistry , engineering , biochemistry
BACKGROUND Cork companies store cork planks before processing them for a minimum of 6 months to dry up and to stabilize their texture and chemical composition, although many companies extend this storage period up to 12 months. However, there is no information about the influence of this seasoning period on their ‘corky’ off flavors. For this reason, the main compounds responsible for the ‘cork taint’ of planks stored before processing from 6 to 12 months were investigated. RESULTS Four haloanisoles and three halophenols were identified: 2,4,6‐trichloroanisole (TCA), 2,3,4,6‐tetrachloroanisole (TeCA), pentachloroanisole (PCA), 2,4,6‐tribromoanisole (TBA), 2,4,6‐trichlorophenol (TCP), 2,3,4,6‐tetrachlorophenol (TeCP), and 2,4,6‐tribromophenol (TBP). All of the planks presented some haloanisole or halophenol after 6 and 9 months of storage, which practically disappeared after a year of storage. These compounds were only detected in the cork stoppers made from planks with 6 and 9 months of storage. Of the alkylmethoxypyrazines, 2‐methoxy‐3,5‐dimethylpyrazine (MDMP), 3‐isopropyl‐2‐methoxypyrazine (IPMP), and 3‐isobutyl‐2‐methoxypyrazine (IBMP) were identified. The MDMP was detected in a larger number of planks with 6 months of storage and at higher concentrations than IPMP and IBMP. However, MDMP was not detected in the cork stoppers made from planks at 6, 9, and 12 months of storage. CONCLUSION A storage time of 6 months before processing of raw cork planks would be sufficient to obtain cork stoppers with low concentrations of corky off‐flavor compounds. An increase in storage up to 9 or 12 months would result in practically ‘cork taint’‐free natural stoppers. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry