Celery volatile constituents

Virtually all people lack the ability to detect some specific odors. A striking example of such an anosmia is the inability to smell the volatile steroid androsten-one (5a-androst-16-en-3-one), a constituent of perspiration, of some pork products, truffles, and celery.922... 

Among the leafy spices, 45 aroma volatiles of desert parsley have been identified, with the major constituents as myristicin, apiole, /3-phellandrene, p-mentha-1,3,8-triene and 4-isopropenyl-l-methylbenzene (MacLeod eta/., 1985). Among these, apiole in particular has a desirable parsley odour character. The leaf stems of celery show three main constituents of volatiles, e.g. apiole (about 23%), 3-butylphthalide (about 22%) and sedanolide (about 24%). The last two possess a strong characteristic celery aroma (MacLeod et al., 1988). Limonene (40.5%), P-selinene (16.3%), cis-ocimene (12.5%) and P-caryophyllene (10.5%) are some of the volatile oil constituents present in celery leaves from Nigeria (Ehiabhi et al., 2003). 

The volatiles also showed variation between genotypes. The concentration of terpenes and phthalides, the key volatile components, found in various cultivars of both celery and celeriac varied over a wide range (Van et al., 1990). Eleven flavour compounds were identified in cv. Black Celery of Trevi, 17 compounds in cv. D Elne and 21 compounds in cv. Verde Pascal. The main constituent of these cultivars was limonene. Twenty-one compounds were identified in cv. Dorato d Asti. The main constituent was y-terpinene. The cv. Black Celery of Trevi had a very low amount of y-terpinene compared with other varieties (Tirillini et al., 2004). 

Definition Volatile oil from celery seed, Apium graveolens, major constituent is (+)-limonene (> 50%)... 

---