VOLATILE CONSTITUENTS OF ’HARROW‘ SWEET PEARS BY DYNAMIC HEADSPACE TECHNIQUE

Pear fruit possess highly distinctive flavor due to their specific volatile organic compounds.
The present research was mainly aimed at characterising the volatile profile of ‘Harrow Sweet’, a fire blight resistant pear cultivar, by using the dynamic headspace method.
Volatiles in the headspace of 2 L glass jars, each containing 600-800 g of sliced pear fruits, were trapped on graphitized carbon adsorbent traps, thermally desorbed and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Over 80 compounds were detected at a wide range of concentrations and molecular weights.
The volatile profile was characterised by compounds grouped as esters, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols and hydrocarbons.
Esters comprised the largest portion (more than 80%) of volatiles emitted by the pear fruits.
The decadienoate esters, which have been reported to be responsible for the ‘Bartlett’-type flavor, were also detected.
Changes in the headspace volatile constituents of ‘Harrow Sweet’ pears under different storage and ripening conditions were also analyzed in order to simulate consumer’s in-house handling practices.
A comparison with the volatiles released by sliced ‘Bartlett’ pears was also carried out.

VIII International Symposium on Pear

F. Rapparini, S. Predieri

volatiles, aroma, flavor, Pyrus communis, pear quality, GC-MS

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.596.140