Characterisation of volatiles in dried white varieties figs (Ficus carica L.)

Abstract

The aromatic profile of volatiles in dried figs varieties Bružetka Bijela and Zimnica were characterised by headspace solid-phase (HS-SPME) procedure with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis (GC-MS). The volatile compounds were distributed by distinct chemical classes, including alcohols, aldehydes, esters, terpenic compounds, and other compounds. The figs were dried in a pilot plant cabinet dryer. Prior to drying process, figs were pre-treated by sulphur dioxide, immersed in solution of citric acid and ascorbic acid, respectively. Several mathematical thin-layer drying models, available in the literature, were fitted to experimental data of figs, implementing non-linear regression analysis techniques. The results showed that pre-treatments of figs decrease significantly the drying time. The best thin-layer drying model in terms of fitting performance was Wang and Singh model. The major volatile compound in dried figs was benzaldehyde. After benzaldehyde, the most abundant aldehyde in dried figs was hexanal. The comparison among dried figs showed the highest abundance of aldehydes, in general, in non-treated (control) dried figs compared to pre-treated samples. Furthermore, ascorbic acid was the most efficient in preserving esters and alcohols in case of Bružetka Bijela, whereas in case of Zimnica, sulphur dioxide was in advance compared to ascorbic acid. Ethyl acetate was the most abundant ester found in dried figs. Among other compounds, 2-butanone,3-hydroxy was the most abundant identified volatiles. Linalool, as the only identified terpen, was in case of both dried fig varieties, preserved by immersion into ascorbic acid. The immersion into citric acid has not been so successful in volatiles conservation.

Effects of pulsed vacuum osmotic dehydration (PVOD) on drying kinetics of figs (Ficus carica L)

“…Therefore, osmotic dehydration under vacuum pretreatment shortened the drying period and this result is consistent with the result of study on drying cherry tomatoes . It was attributed to pretreatments improves the removing water from the figs because of occurring micro wounds on the peel and removing waxy layers (Mujic et al, 2014).…”

“…Drying has many advantages for food quality with decreasing water activity, reducing microbiological activity and minimizing physical and chemical changes (Mujic et al, 2014).…”

Characterization of Aroma Profile of Bogma, Traditional Homemade Turkish Spirit††

“…Two of them (4 and 7) were reported earlier (Zeren et al, 2012). All higher alcohols detected thought to be most likely arisen from the higher pectin content of dry fig (Gözlekçi et al, 2011;Mujic et al, 2012). Higher alcohols are the major volatile components of alcoholic beverages that can be formed in two ways: Ehrlich pathway (from amino acids) by yeasts and biosynthesis (from sugar in the absence of amino acid) (Nykanen and Nykanen, 1991;Erten and Canbaş, 2003).…”

“…Furfural content of Bogma was determined by chemical and chromatographic analyses in other studies (Şahin and Özçelik, 1982;Bulur, 2010). (10) is the only ketone found in samples which forms from amino acids and reported to be the most abundant aroma compound in fig fruits (Mujic et al, 2012). Like furfural, 2-pentyl furan (8) is a benzene derivate heterocyclic compound and its presence in fig fruits has already been shown (Gözlekçi et al, 2011).…”

“…Methional (49), as a product of Strecker degradation of methionine-gives a corn-like aroma at high concentrations or sweet taste at low concentrations to alcoholic beverages (Ertekin et al, 2009). t-2-c-6-nonadienal (50) is an aldehyde forming from oxidative degradation of free fatty acids giving cucumber and watermelon-like notes to alcoholic beverages (Mujic et al, 2012). …”