Volatile compounds spices

Another important group is the essential oils which are manufactured mainly from herbs and spices mostly by steam distillation. The advantage of steam distillation is the fact that a clean and powerful oil can be isolated after the distillation step without waxes and other non-volatile compounds but with an odour... 

To conclude, it is worth reiterating that the only orchid used as a spice, the vanilla pod, has been recognized for its culinary and medicinal uses since the time of the Aztecs. Vanilla is the world s third most expensive spice, from which is obtained the popular commercial flavouring agent, vanillin. The characteristic aroma of vanilla is obtained only after a time-consuming and labour-intensive curing process. The main aroma compound in vanilla is vanillin over 100 volatile compounds have been detected, including aromatic carbonyls, aromatic... 

Celery is used both as a vegetable and a spice. It has several medicinal uses. It is believed to cure most urinary disorders. It has diuretic properties. It is also commonly used to relieve pain. Limonene is the major volatile compound in both leaf and seed oil. Phthalides, myrcene, pinene, etc., are also present. Higher nitrogen inhibited limonene... 

M. H. Boelens, Spices and Condiments II. In Volatile Compounds in Foods and Beverages H. Maarse, Ed. Marcel Dekker New York, 1991 pp 449-482. 

DHS applications have been developed, for example, for the determination of aroma-active compounds in bamboo shoots (83), styrene in yoghurt (8- ) and volatile acids in tobacco, tea, and coffee (88), volatile compounds of strawberries (89) and odor-active compounds of hams (90). The applications of DTD-GC include, for example, in the determination of volatile components of Lavandula luisieri (85), in the analysis of volatile components of oak wood (87) and volatiles in various solid-food products such as spices and herbs (black pepper, oregano, basil, garlic), coffee, roasted peanuts, candy and mushrooms (82). 

Set up of the data matrix. The raw data were collected from published literature such as those cited by TTfO-CIVO (3), ESO (J), or those listed in the present study. Take essential oil of black pepper (/i) as an example, the original data format is sliown in Table V, tile volatile compounds were then arranged into coded number as those of Anise shown in Table I. So far, a 355 (spices) by 922 (volatile compounds) data matrix has been established. Of the 355 spices, there exists repeated collection of data from the same spice from different geological areas or dififerem publications. For examples, 4 cloves. 5 star anises, 9 anises, 6 corianders, S allspices, 2 black peppers and 27 basils, are included in the present data matrix. 

Test run of known spice blends from published literature. The spice blends which contain basil, cinnamon leaf, peppermint, sage and wimergreen as reported by Lawrence and Shu (4) were used to test the effectiveness of the present iheoty. The ratios of individual spice are shown in Table VI, the coded numbers of identified volatile compounds in the spice blends are shown in Table VII Conqxiter output of numerical analyses of compounds shown in Table Vfl are listed in Table VIII, the similarity index of the testing result is 0.959, indicating a high level of confidence. In Table VIII, there are repeated identifications of the same type of spice, e.g., the appearance of basils H3, 19, 24, 26 and 27 doves 1 and 4 and mentha 1 and 12. In fact, the repeated appearance of the same spice indicates the closeness of these spices. It was also confirmed that the similarity index within the same spice listed in Table VIII usually ranged from 1.0 to 0.90 (data not shown). In order to... 

This paper presents a qualitative and quantitative analysis of an individual spice in a spice blend. The ratios of each spice were calculated by using a computerized numerical analysis with a data matrix composed of 355 spices and accumulated total of922 volatile compounds. The principal part of this method is the solving of a constrained optimization problem. 

It is very clear that the larger the hidex X, Y) is, the smaller the Hellinger distance between X and Y will be Therefore tndexiX.Y) directly reflects their similarity For example, Anise 2 (9) and Anise /f4(/0) have many volatile compounds in common (Table 11). The similarity index between these two spices is 0.96d indicating high degree of similarity. On the contrary, when volatile compounds of Anise U2 are compared with those of coriander If I (/ /), as shown in Table ill, an index value of 0 is obtained, indicating no similarity between these two spices... 

A variety of different volatile compounds such as the terpenoids thymol, carvacrol. eugenol, carvone and thujone, which are character-impact compounds for important spices (23,24), have antioxidative activity but the use of these compounds as aiilioxi dants for different foods are limited by the characteristic flavour of the particular compound. 

Essential oils are volatile compounds responsible for the aromas commonly associated with many plants (see essay "Terpenes and Phenylpropanoids")- The chief constituent of the essential oil from cloves is aromatic and volatile with steam. In this experiment, you will isolate the main component derived from this spice by steam distillation. Steam distillation provides a means of isolating natural products, such as essential oils, without the risk of decomposing them thermally. Identification and characterization of this essential oil will be accomplished by infrared spectroscopy. 

The aroma substances that comprise flavors are found in nature as complex mixtures of volatile compounds. A vast majority of volatile chemicals that have been isolated from natural flavor extracts do not provide aroma contributions that are reminiscent of the flavor substance. For instance, n-hexanal is a component of natural apple flavor (1) however, when smelled in isolation, its odor is reminiscent of green, painty, rancid oil. Similarly, ethyl butyrate has a nondescript fruity aroma although it is found in strawberries, raspberries, and pears, it does not uniquely describe the aroma quality of any of these individual fruits. It has long been the goal of flavor chemists to elucidate the identity of pure aroma chemicals that have the distinct character impact of the natural fruit, vegetable, meat, cheese, or spice that they were derived from. Often, these are referred to as character impact compounds (2). 

Essential Oils. Volatile oils from plants are referred to as essential oils. The oils can be obtained through steam distillation, solvent extraction, or separation of the oils from pressed fmit. They consist of oxygenated compounds, terpenes, and sesquiterpenes. The primary flavor components of essential oils are oxygenated compounds. Terpenes contain some flavors but are often removed from the essential oil because they are easily oxidized (causiag off-flavors or odors) and are iasoluble. Essential oils are prepared from fmits, herbs, roots, and spices. 

A number of volatile aliphatic compounds that contain nitrogen or sulfur atoms are important aroma constituents. Alkyl thiols, dialkyl sulfides and disulfides, and alkyl thiocyanates belong to this group. They occur widely in foods and spices and determine the odor of, for example, onions, garlic, and mustard. Because of their potent smell, they are used in high dilution and are often produced only in small quantities. The same is true for the following ... 

The resinoids described above should be distinguished from prepared oleoresins (e.g., pepper, ginger, and vanilla oleoresins), which are concentrates prepared from spices by solvent extraction. The solvent that is used depends on the spice currently, these products are often obtained by extraction with supercritical carbon dioxide [223a]. Pepper and ginger oleoresins contain not only volatile aroma compounds, but also substances responsible for pungency. 

Spices impart aroma, colour and taste to food preparations and sometimes mask undesirable odours. Volatile oils give the aroma, and oleoresins impart the taste. Aroma compounds play a significant role in the production of flavourants, which are used in the food industry to flavour, improve and increase the appeal of their products. They are classified by functional groups, e.g. alcohols, aldehydes, amines, esters, ethers, ketones, terpenes, thiols and other miscellaneous compounds. In spices, the volatile oils constitute these components (Zachariah, 1995 Menon, 2000). 

In cardamom, the oil has very little mono- or sesquiterpenic hydrocarbons and is dominated by oxygenated compounds, all of which are potential aroma compounds. While many of the identified compounds (alcohols, esters and aldehydes) are commonly found in many spice oils (or even volatiles of many different foods), the... 

The volatile oil components in cardamom are summarized by Guenther (1975). The first detailed analysis of the oil was reported by Nigam et al. (1965). The oil has little mono- or sesquiterpenic hydrocarbons and is dominated by oxygenated compounds, all of which are potential aroma compounds. While many of the identified compounds (alcohols, esters and aldehydes) are commonly found in many spice oils (or even volatiles of many different foods), the dominance of the ether, 1,8-cineole and the esters, a-terpinyl and linalyl acetates in the composition make the cardamom volatiles a unique combination (Lewis et al., 1966 Salzer, 1975 Korikanthimath et al., 1997). 

Ginger is one of the most extensively used spices because of its wide range of application. It is used fresh and in the preserved or dried form. The potential of ginger in the culinary, non-culinary and medicinal fields is based on the chemistry of volatile oil and non-volatile pungent principles. The oil yield is about 2-3% and the oil consists of 64% sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, 6% carbonyl compounds,... 

During distillation of the spice, a number of transformations may occur in the composition of the volatile oil. Small quantities of p-cymene may be produced as an artefact, linalyl acetate and some other esters may be hydrolysed and d-linalool may rearrange to its optically inactive isomer geraniol. Potter et al. (1993) found structural similarity in the compounds of Polygonum odoratum to that of C. sativum. 

Many varieties of red pepper, derived from plants of the genus Capsicum, are used in different cuisines around the world for their sensory properties of oral chemical "heat", volatile flavor and color. Determination of the degree of heat in a pepper sample has been a difficult problem for both sensory and instrumental analysts of flavor. Furthermore, the literature concerning the sensory physiology and perceptual responses of the "common chemical sense" (as defined later) has lagged behind other areas of study of the chemical senses. The purpose of this paper will be to review recent developments in two areas, the development of a standard method for sensory analysis of ground red pepper heat and the psychophysical characterization of observers responses to oral chemical Irritation induced by spice-derived compounds. 

Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is a new analytical technique applied to problems in food and flavor analyses. Rapidity of analysis, a high discrimination against chemical noise, and the ability to analyze mixtures for functional groups are attributes of MS/MS that make it attractive for such problems. Sanple collection and pretreatment differ frcm methods used in GC/MS. Correct choice of an ionization method is paramount. Daughter ion MS/MS spectra are used for conpound identification via comparison with those of authentic compounds, and parent and neutral loss spectra are useful in functional group analysis. Applications to direct analysis of volatiles emitted from fruits and to spice analyses are considered. 

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