Musk strawberries: the flavour of a formerly famous fruit reassessed

Pet'ka, Ján; Leitner, Erich; Parameswaran, Baskaran

Musk strawberries: the flavour of a formerly famous fruit reassessed

2012

Pet'ka, Ján | Leitner, Erich | Parameswaran, Baskaran

Fruits of wildly growing and naturally ripened musk strawberries (Fragaria moschata) from two highland sites were studied during two seasons. The fruits were characterized on site by two flavourists and a full profile of the volatile compounds was extracted immediately after collection using solid phase extraction and analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCâMS) and gas chromatography–olfactometry (GCâO). The aroma of whole fruits was characterized with dynamic headspace coupled to GCâMS. Single fruits evaluated on site were characterized by green, spicy, seedy and sweet exotic notes, while the fruit bunches showed a complex tropical smell. More than 100 distinctive volatile compounds were detected by GCâMS. Some of them are reported for the first time in the Fragaria species, most notably the abundant coniferyl alcohol. GCâO revealed that mesifuran, eugenol, methyl butyrate, furaneol and 3âmercaptohexyl acetate were the key components of the highland musk strawberry flavour. A comparison of the volatile pattern with the much more known woodland strawberry (F. vesca) from a nearby location contrasted the differences in the volatile composition of the musk strawberry. Repeated analysis of fruits harvested 2 years after the first vintage confirmed these data.

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