Peanuts are a valuable agricultural commodity and roasted peanut flavor is the driving force for consumer purchase and consumption. The development of off-flavors is a major concern to the peanut industry and physiological differences (i.e. oil and sugar content) among the different maturity classes can influence the presence and/or absence of specific flavors. Fruity fermented (FF) is a common off-flavor found in peanuts and is developed when peanuts are cured at excessive temperatures (>35ºC). Previous literature has characterized FF off-flavor using descriptive sensory analysis; however, there is little information on FF off-flavor using consumer evaluation. The peanut plant has an indeterminate flowering pattern meaning a range of maturities are present at harvest and the immature and mature peanuts differ in roasting and flavor quality. Immature peanuts tend to have more FF off-flavor than mature peanuts which results in a FF distribution within large peanut lots. The flowering pattern and heterogeneous distribution of immature and mature seed make it challenging to obtain an accurate determination of FF off-flavor in a bulk lot. Establishing links between flavor and volatile flavor compounds can be obtained by using sensory and instrumental analyses. Currently, there is little research published on the volatile components that contribute to naturally occurring FF off-flavor. The objectives of this research were to: i) characterize consumer?s perception of FF off-flavor, ii) measure the variability and determine the FF distribution in bulk lots, iii) and identify the volatile compounds responsible for naturally occurring FF off-flavor using sensory and instrumental analyses. Descriptive sensory analysis was conducted to determine the no FF and FF samples used for the consumer study. Two-hundred and eight consumers evaluated a control (no FF off-flavor), low (1.0 FF) intensity, and a high (3.0 FF) intensity using two different scaling techniques: category and line scales. Results indicated FF off-flavor negatively impacts consumer acceptance of peanuts and the line scales were more sensitive and showed more differences among the samples compared to the category scale. The second study investigated the distribution of FF off-flavor in peanut lots and the results indicated that FF intensity varied from lot to lot and within a single bulk lot. Solvent assisted flavor evaporation (SAFE), solidphase microextraction (SPME), gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and model systems were conducted to identify the compounds responsible for naturally occurring FF off-flavor. Volatile analysis indicated that ethanol and the esters previously reported as causing FF off-flavor were not detected in natural FF samples by solvent extractions; however, they were present in natural and artificially created Georgia Green and Flavor Runner 458 samples by headspace extractions. These findings emphasizes that the use of laboratory created samples should not be used to identify off-flavor sources in peanuts. Additionally, the use of analytical techniques to identify FF off-flavor in bulk lots cannot be achieved using ethanol or esters as indicators.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-06192007-175623 |
| Date | 24 August 2007 |
| Creators | Greene, Jeffrey Lynnette |
| Contributors | Roger McFeeters, Leon Boyd, MaryAnne Drake, Timothy H. Sanders |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-06192007-175623/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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