Changes in the Chemical Composition of Reduced Cooked Musts during the Heating Process

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 2008-08, Vol.56 (15), p.6397-6407
• Main Authors: Cocchi, Marina, Consonni, Roberto, Durante, Caterina, Grandi, Margherita, Manzini, Simona, Marchetti, Andrea, Sighinolfi, Simona
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 5-HMF; 5-hydroxymethylfurfural; Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena; acidity; balsamic vinegar; Biological and medical sciences; Chemical Changes Induced by Processing/Storage; chemical composition; Cooked must; cooking; cultivars; density; food composition; food contamination; Food Contamination - analysis; Food Handling - methods; Food industries; food quality; food safety; fructose; Fruit - chemistry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Furaldehyde - analogs & derivatives; Furaldehyde - analysis; furfural; gas chromatography; glucose; grape must; heat treatment; high performance liquid chromatography; Hot Temperature; malic acid; organic acids; refractive index; tartaric acid; vinegars; Vitis - chemistry; Vitis vinifera; Water - analysis; water content
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf800353a

Cooked must is the starting raw material in Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (ABTM) production, and the cooking process is a crucial step to ensure quality and safety standards. In particular, the furfural content has to be strictly monitored. In this study, we followed, directly at the production plant, nine cooking processes, differing for grape type and process conditions in order to monitor the actual variability in cooked must reduction. 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) and furfural contents were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique and glucose, fructose, and tartaric and malic acids by gas chromatography (GC) technique. Furthermore, some bulk properties, such as the water content, refractive index, density, and total acidity, were also measured. The obtained results show that the product undergoes, in the worse operating conditions, remarkable degradation, leading to extremely high levels of furfurals (5-HMF and furfural), corresponding to a water content lower than 40%. On the basis of these results, a first draft of an optimal heating protocol may be suggested in order to guarantee the safety and quality of the final product.