See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/312198853

The Scent of Apples – A Non-Literary Investigation

Conference Paper · September 2016

CITATIONS READS

0 166

5 authors, including:

Erich Leitner Barbara Siegmund

Graz University of Technology Graz University of Technology
107 PUBLICATIONS   1,786 CITATIONS    45 PUBLICATIONS   694 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Essessential oils and flavoring compounds delivered in water based systems to View project

SmellProcess View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Barbara Siegmund on 11 January 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 The Scent of Apples – A Non-Literary Investigation

Iris Tauber1, Ulrike Heil1, Erich Leitner1,Georg Innerhofer2, Barbara Siegmund1

1Graz University of Technology, Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Food Chemistry, NAWI Graz,
Stremayrgasse 9/II, A-8010 Graz, Austria
iris.tauber@tugraz.at
2 School for Fruit Growing & Viticulture Silberberg, Silberberg 1, A-8430 Leibnitz, Austria

Introduction
Styria is Austrian’s apple cultivation hot spot. About 80% of the annual harvest (corresponding to about 130.000 tons) are harvested in this
region. The majority of the apples – mainly new apple varieties as Golden Delicious, Gala, Idared or Braeburn - are cultivated in plantations.
However, about 25% of the apples are grown in so-called meadow orchards (Fig. 1). These
meadow orchards represent an enormous pool for apple varieties – mainly old apple varieties that
have been traditionally grown there. In many cases these varieties show completely different
sensory properties than fruits from new varieties.
‘The Scent of Apples’ is not only the title of a short story by Bienvenido N. Santos, but also the issue of
our recent investigations concerning the perceived odour when sniffing intact ripe apples. Therefore, 15
different apple varieties were analyzed with respect to the volatiles emitted by the intact fruit. In this
study, we aimed to answer the following to questions:
 Is it possible to differentiate apple varieties by sniffing the intact apples only?
 By means of GC analysis – is it possible to interpret the differences by investigating
Fig. 1: Example of a traditional meadow orchard the primary flavour compounds?
(Source: www.streuobstwiesen-niedersachsen.de)

Materials and Methods

For the characterisation of the scent of the intact apples we used two different techniques that deliver complementary information regarding
the primary flavour compounds of the investigated apple varieties.

Apple varieties Sensory evaluation Analysis of the volatiles

 8 old varieties  Trained panellists  Intact apples in glass jars

(Bohnapfel, Boskop, Cox Orange  Intact apples in glass jars with lids  Enrichment of the volatiles after
Ilzer Rose, Kronprinz Rudolf,  Evaluation of the smell after equilibration
Leder Renette, Maschanzker opening the lid  Headspace-SPME of the volatiles
Schafsnase)  Descriptive analysis  GC-MS analysis
 7 new varieties  Projective mapping
(Braeburn, Elstar, Gala, Pinova
Golden Delicious,, Rubinette, Topaz)

Results
Sensory evaluation showed that it is possible to differentiate between the 15 apple varieties of interest according to the smell of the intact
fruits (results not shown). However, there was no clear separation between old and new varieties. Figure 2 and 3 show the characteristics
of three old and two new selected apple varieties that were of special interest for this study. The two old varieties Bohnapfel and Kronprinz
Rudolf were separated from the other varieties of interest mainly due to their expressed fruitiness. Three esters with expressed fruitiness
and low odour thresholds (i.e. ethyl butanoate, ethyl-2-methyl butanoate, ethyl hexanoate) can only be found in relevant amounts
within the primary flavour compounds of Bohnapfel and Kronprinz Rudolf, explaining the expressed fruitiness of these varieties.

Sensory Analysis GC-MS Analysis

700
ethylbutanoate ethyl-2-methylbutanoate ethylhexanoate

Bohnapfel butylacetate 2-methylbutylacetate hexylacetate

fruity with green 600
butylbutanoate hexylbutanoate hexylhexanoate
notes
Kronprinz Rudolf
very fruity, red 500
Area counts * 106

berries, slightly floral

400

Maschanzker
no fruitiness, 300
„woody“, spicy Braeburn
low fruitiness, green,
spicy 200

Golden Delicious 100

weak flavour, slightly
fruity, green and citrus
0
Bohnapfel Kronprinz Rudolf Maschanzker Braeburn Golden Delicious

Fig. 2: Projective Mapping: Classification according to similiarities/differences in odour from 5 varieties of Interest Fig. 3: Comparison of ester patterns of the five apple varieties of special interest
red :old varieties; green: new varieties

Thanks to…. the members of the sensory test panel for evaluating the apple samples.
View publication stats