Volatile Flavor Components from Boiled Crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) Tail Meat

The volatile flavor components of boiled red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) tail meat were characterized by a combination of dynamic headspace concentration on a porous polymer trap, high resolution gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and chromatography-coupled aroma sniffing evaluation. A total of 70 volatile compounds in many different chemical classes were identified and reported for the first time in crayfish tail meat. Various components gave green grassy, woody, buttery, metallic, or sulfur-like aroma characteristics. Most of the sensory characteristics of the individual components in the aromagram agreed well with the identification of the chemical structures eluted within the corresponding chromatographic period. However, several pleasant nutty, meaty and salty-meaty areas in the gas chromatographic aromagram remained unidentified.