Evaluation of the volatile compounds of fresh ripened Capsicum annuum and its spice pepper (dried red pepper flakes and isot)

Characterization of hot pepper spice phytochemicals, taste compounds content and volatile profiles in relation to the drying temperature

“…The present results indicate hexyl 2‐methylbutanoate and 10s, 11s‐himachala‐3(12), 4‐diene (himachaladiene) as the compounds in higher amounts in fresh samples; these compounds have been already found in the headspace of other peppers, the ester in the Cachuca pepper cultivated in Cuba (Pino et al, ) and in the Malagueta peppers from Chile (Bogusz Junior et al, ), the sesquiterpene in C. annuum and C. chinense peppers grown in Japan (Manikharda et al, ; ). The terpenoid profiles reported in previous works (Korkmaz et al, ; Manikharda et al, ; ; Ziino et al, ) were mostly composed of sesquiterpenes, in accordance with the present results. In the study of Ziino et al () on the volatile profiles of six Calabrian C. annuum varieties, the main sesquiterpene was instead identified as γ muurolene.…”

“…In dried samples, the main compounds found were aldehydes, produced from oxidation of amino acids (phenylacetaldehyde and 3‐methylbutanal) and fatty substances (hexanal) as well as terpenoids (himachaladiene). These changes are partially in accordance with the modifications described by Korkmaz et al (): they also observed a terpenoid decrease of almost 44% with drying and, contrary to the present data, a decrease in the concentration of most identified aldehydes, probably due to a drying method (sun drying) which implies a lower temperature and a longer exposure to the air. The concentrations of some compounds was steeply reduced by the hot air treatment; among them, the esters hexyl butanoate, hexyl 2‐methylbutanoate, hexyl hexanoate, responsible for the “fruity” odor notes, methyl salicylate, with green mint odor and the terpenoids linalool, α‐copaene and γ‐himachalene, with flowery and spicy notes.…”

“…The characteristic green pepper compound, 2‐isobutyl‐3‐methoxypyrazine, although decreased with thermal treatments, was present above its olfactory threshold in raw, 50 and 57°C dried samples but was not detected in 64°C dried sample. This compound was also found in dried pepper in lower amounts with respect to fresh fruit (Korkmaz et al, ). Other volatile compounds, such as dimethyl sulfide, 1‐(2‐Furanyl)‐ethanone, and tetramethylpyrazine were exclusively produced with the thermal treatment, while a significant increase was observed in dried samples for 3‐methyl butanal, 1‐methyl pyrrole, hexanal, phenylacetaldehyde, 6‐methyl 5‐hepten‐2‐one, and geranyl acetone.…”

“…In Capsicum genus, the variability of volatile profiles is due to many factors such as variety (Pino, Fuentes, & Barrios, ; Rodríguez‐Burruezo, Kollmannsberger, González‐Mas, Nitz, & Fernando, ; Ziino, Condurso, Romeo, Tripodi, & Verzura, ), ripening stage (Bogusz Junior, Marchi Tavares, Teixeira Filho, Alcaraz Zini, & Teixeira Godoy, ; Conforti et al, ; Pino, Sauri‐Duch, & Marbot, ), edaphoclimatic conditions (Patel, Ruiz, Calderon, Marcelo, & Rojas, ). Hot peppers aroma profile is made up by compounds belonging to the chemical classes of alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, acids, esters, terpenoids (mainly sesquiterpenes), hydrocarbons, and pyrazines (Korkmaz, Hayaloglu, & Atasoy, ; Ziino et al, ), and only few of them effectively contribute to the odor. Among them, 2‐methoxy‐3‐isobutyl pyrazine is characterized by an extremely low odor threshold (0.002–0.016 ppb, Leffingwell & Leffingwell, ) and possess the typical green bell pepper note, while esters and terpenoids are responsible for the sweet, fruity and floral, spicy notes, respectively.…”

“…The dehydration reduces water activity leading to the extension of the shelf life and to the impairment of microbiological deterioration (Darvishi et al, ). However, thermal dehydration process is often detrimental to the nutritional and sensory quality of products, leading to a loss of phytochemicals such as AsA (Martínez, López, Gonzalez‐Raurich, & Bernardo, ) and to changes in the volatile compounds profile (Korkmaz et al, ).…”