High resolution fused silica capillary columns were used to examine, and in some cases to compare, flavor and aroma essences obtained by 1) direct headspace injection, 2) simultaneous steam distillation extraction, 3) standard Soxhlet extraction using dichloromethane, and 4) high pressure Soxhlet extraction using liquid CO 2 Developments in smaller-and larger-diameter fused silica open tubular columns, and columns coated with a bonded polyethylene glycol stationary phase were also explored.Gas chromatography remains our most powerful separation technique; probably because of this, it has become the most widely used of all analytical techniques. The major limitation to its application, of course, is that it is restricted to the separation of compounds which possess (or which can be derivitized to compounds which do possess) suitable vapor pressures, or "volatility".Volatility, however, is a necessary attribute of odorous compounds, and aroma exercises a profound influence on flavor.Hence, it is not surprising to find that gas chromatography has received a great deal of attention from the flavor chemist, and that many of the advances in gas chromatography have been made by those in the flavor field.The flavor chemist, however, faces a variety of complicating factors.Flavor is the integrated and highly subjective response of an individual to a number of different stimuli, while gas chromatography (at its best) merely differentiates some of the compounds present, only some of which serve as flavor stimuli. Flavor samples are often exceedingly complex, some of the constituents are unstable, and they may be differentially dispersed (via preferential solubility, adsorption, absorption) through heterogeneous matrices containing water, fats and oils, protein sols, and/or non-volatile solutes such as sugars and salts. These vagaries in distribution can disrupt (or re-enforce) synergistic and antagonistic interactions between flavor compounds and can also complicate their isolation for analysis.