Curry aroma

Cumin Seed. Cumin spice is the dried ripe fmit of Cuminum cyminum L. (UmbeUiferae). The seed-Uke fmit is elongated about 0.31 to 0.63 cm and is yeUowish brown. It is native to upper Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean, but is now cultivated in Pakistan, Turkey, India, China, and Syria. It has a strong pecuhar aroma and flavor, pleasing to some and offensive to others. Cumin seed is used in chutney and curry, chili powders, chili con came, cheeses, and the pickling of cabbage. 

The curry leaf plant is highly valued for its characteristic aroma and medicinal value (Philip, 1981). A number of leaf essential oil constituents and carbazole alkaloids have been extracted from the plant (Mallavarapu et al., 1999). There are a large number of oxygenated mono- and sesquiterpenes present, e.g. c/s-ocimene (34.1%), a-pinene (19.1%), y-terpinene (6.7%) and P-caryophyllene (9.5%), which appear to be responsible for the intense odour associated with the stalk and flower parts of curry leaves (Onayade and Adebajo, 2000). In fresh bay leaves, 1, 8-cineole is the major component, together with a-terpinyl acetate, sabinene, a-pinene, P-pinene, P-elemene, a-terpineol, linalool and eugenol (Kilic et al., 2004). 

The essential oil content of cumin seed ranges from 2.3 to 5.0%. Cumin fruits have a distinctive bitter flavour and a strong, warm aroma due to their abundant essential oil content. Of this, 40-65% is cuminaldehyde (4-isopropylbenzaldehyde), the major constituent and important aroma compound, and also the bitterness compound reported in cumin (Hirasa and Takemasa, 1998). The odour is best described as penetrating, irritating, fatty, overpowering, curry-like, heavy, spicy, warm and persistent, even after drying out (Farrell, 1985.) The characteristic flavour of cumin is probably due to dihydrocuminaldehyde and monoterpenes (Weiss, 2002). 

Terpenes are the main constituents of the volatile essential oil of M. koenigii leaves, which are used for curry flavouring (MacLeod and Pieris, 1982). The oil of M. koenigii produces less than 4% of other components, with eight monoterpene hydrocarbons (about 16%) and 17 sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (about 80%). The major constituents responsible for aroma are P-caryophyllene, P-gurjunene, P-elemene, P-phellandrene and P-thujene (Kumar et al., 1999). The volatile oils from the leaves of six species of the genus Murraya have been studied by GC-MS and about 60 monoterpene and sesquiterpenes components were identified. From these results, and published... 

M. koenigii (Linn), commonly known as the curry leaf plant, is highly valued for its characteristic aroma and medicinal properties. Its leaves are used extensively for culinary purposes, especially in curries and chut-neys, but also in vegetable, fish and meat dishes, pickles, buttermilk preparations, curry powder blends, etc. The major volatile components in curry leaf are a-pinene, 3-caryophyllene, (Ii)-P-ocimene, linalool and P-phellandrene. M. koenigii is a rich source of carbazole alkaloids. Its leaves, roots and bark are a tonic, stomachic and carminative. It is shown to possess a hypo-cholesterol effect and many other health benefits. The crop promises great scope in various biochemical and industrial applications in the future. 

Hiremath, S.M. and Madalageri, B.B. (1 997) Volatile aroma constituents of curry leaf cv. Suwasini. Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Science 1 0, 602-604. 

OD-R (curry, spicy burnt, spicy flavour of stored citrus soft drinks non-fat dry milk aroma... 

All the compounds produced a burnt sugary aroma, which became more burnt and heavy as the substituted alkyl chain increased in length. It is interesting that the ethyl substituted lactone II has a 100 times lower threshold value than that of sotolon, and that this compound has been considered to be an FIC in the protein hydrolysate. This was because it had been prepared from threonine by heating with hydrochloric acid and subsequent dehydration, hydrolysis, condensation (Aldol type) and decarboxylation, and it showed a strong curry-like or herbal aroma at concentrations higher than 1 ppm,... 

When Japanese rice wine (sake) is kept under unsuitable conditions, it develops an off-flavor with a burnt or soy-sauce (shoyu)-like odor. Takahashi al.(12) identified the main component as sotolon before our identification, and they claimed that the sotolon concentration was between 140-430 ppb in aged sake. This concentration is much higher than the threshold value of sotolon, and its aroma character would change from sugary to herbal or curry-like. The high sotolon content in aged sake could be a reason for the off-flavor defect. The formation of sotolon in aged... 

C6H803, Mt 128.13, was found in, e.g., fenugreek, coffee, sake, and flor-sherry. Its aroma characteristic changes from caramel-like at low concentrations to curry-like at high concentrations. A method described for its preparation comprises condensation of ethyl propionate with diethyl oxalate and reaction of the intermediately formed diethyl oxalylpropionate with acetaldehyde. Acidic decarboxylation of the ethyl 4,5-dimethyl-2,3-dioxodihydrofuran-4-carboxylate gives the title compound [199],... 

This lactone is the flavoring compound formed by the aging of a-ketobutyric acid (Sulser et al., 1967). The flavor is described as malt, molasses, maple, burnt sugar (Chemisis, 1965), with a strong seasoninglike aroma at a concentration of 0.1 ppm and a taste threshold of 1-5 ppb for Sulser et al. (1972). Manley et al. (1980) reported a maple-like, remarkably persistent curry-like odor and wondered if the enolization or the instability of the compound could be responsible for the two notes. It is a potent odorant of roasted powder and brew of arabica coffee with odor descriptions similar to those of G.12, and an odor threshold of 2-4ng/m , air (Blank et al., 1992a,b), of 7.5 ppb in water (Semmelroch et al., 1995). 

Certain 2-hydroxy substituted y-lactones (3-hydroxy furan-2-ones) derived from ycrotonolactone, however, have a specific odour. Typically 3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-5//-furan-2-one (sotolon) has an aroma resembling fenugreek or curry at higher concentrations, and caramel, maple syrup or burnt sugar at lower concentrations. Sotolon occurs as a mixture of -)- R)-and (-F)-(S)-enantiomers (8-111). The perception threshold of (S)-sotolon (0.8 (xg/1) in a model wine solution was 100 times lower than that of the (l )-enantiomer (89 p-g/l), indicating that mainly (S)-sotolon contributes to the characteristic aroma of wines. The key component of acid protein hydrolysates is the higher... 

Figure 17 represents the analysis of a sample of curry powder that was thought to be lacking one of its spice components. Because the spice was known to contain a unique aroma chemical, it was an easy matter to transfer a small amount of the curry to a vial, perform a headspace extraction, and determine whether the spice had been added. The complete analysis required less than one hour from the time the sample was received in the laboratory. As a quality control measure, SPME can have a significant impact on the analysis of raw materials and finished products. 

Turmeric is also primarily used as a spice component in curry dishes and as a coloring agent in dried and frozen foods. The character impact compound for turmeric is reported as ar-turmerone (13). Saffron, the dried red stigmas of Crocus sativus L. flowers, is utilized to impart both color and flavor, which is described as sweet, spicy, floral, with a fatty herbaceous undertone. Safranal (2,6,6-trimethyl-l,3-cyclohexadiene-l-carboxaldehyde) has been generally considered to be the character impact compound of saffron however, a recent investigation has also identified two other potent compounds, 4,4,6-frimethyl-2,5-cyclohexadien-l-one and an unknown, possessing saffron, stale, dried-hay aroma attributes (14). Representative structures for spice impact compounds are shown in Fig. 1. 

A key component in both chili powder and curry powder, cumin is the dried seed of the herb Cuminum cyminum, a member of the parsley family. Cuminaldehyde is the principal contributor to the spice s aroma and flavor, which imparts a strong musty/earthy character, with green grassy notes contributed by p-1,3- and 1,4-men-thadienals. frfl 5-2-Dodecenal, possessing a persistent fatty-cifrus-herbaceous odor, is a character impact component of coriander, along with uf-linalool (15). 

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