FLAVOR ANALYSIS IN ASPARAGUS BREEDING

Cooked asparagus is characterized by an outstanding and delicious flavor which is formed, beside sugars and bitter components, by a number of aroma substances.
But asparagus quality does not always meet the requirements of the market.
Therefore quality assessors and plant breeders ask for objective parameters not only for outer parameters like length, diameter, color etc. but also for sensory quality.
The contribution of volatile compounds to the flavor of cooked white asparagus was evaluated with the aid of gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, element specific detection (nitrogen and sulfur) and human nose (gas chromatography olfactometry – GCO). The objectives of this study were to estimate the differences in aroma patterns (character impact compounds and off-flavors) of different asparagus varieties.
A totality of 36 odorants were identified.
This study especially demonstrates the importance of off-flavors for the sensory quality of cooked white asparagus.

X International Asparagus Symposium

D. Ulrich, E. Hoberg

Asparagus officinalis L., aroma, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, olfactometry

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.589.38