Volatile fingerprinting of chestnut flours from traditional Emilia Romagna (Italy) cultivars

• Published in: Food chemistry 2012-09, Vol.134 (2), p.662-668
• Main Authors: Cirlini, M., Dall’Asta, C., Silvanini, A., Beghè, D., Fabbri, A., Galaverna, G., Ganino, T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: alcohols; aldehydes; Aldehydes - analysis; Biological and medical sciences; Castanea; Castanea sativa Mill; cultivars; dry milling; Fagaceae - chemistry; flour; Flour - analysis; Food industries; fruit growing; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; GC–MS; HS-SPME; Italy; ketones; microextraction; Odorants - analysis; odors; raw fruit; Seeds - chemistry; volatile compounds; Volatile fraction; Volatile Organic Compounds - chemistry
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.02.151

► This study is the first attempt to characterise the chestnut flour volatiles ► Aldehydes are the most abundant among the 44 volatiles identified in chestnut flour. ► Monovarietal flours were successfully classified according to their odour descriptors. The volatile profile of nine monocultivar chestnut flours, obtained from fruits grown in Italy (Parma province), was characterised by a head-space solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with GC–MS technique. The volatile fraction was composed of 44 main compounds belonging to different classes, mainly aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, furans and terpenes. Aldehydes, in particular hexanal, are the most abundant components. In order to better understand the origin of the different volatile compounds during the drying and milling processes, samples of fresh fruit were also analysed by the same technique and the data obtained were statistically and critically compared in order to get a picture of the volatile evolution in chestnut from fresh fruit to flour. Finally, the nine monocultivar flours were chemometrically classified on the basis of the main odour descriptors associated with the volatile fingerprinting.