Composition of Apricot Aroma: Correlations between Sensory and Instrumental Data

Volatile compounds of six apricot cultivars were isolated by vacuum distillation and separated by gas-chromatography. Eleven aromatic compounds were selected by sniffing and quantified after addition of known amounts of pure compounds. Sensory analyses were performed to rate the typicality of apricot aroma in these cultivars. Since the chemical extracts were not assessed significantly different from the raw product, statistical analyses were performed to correlate the typical sensory notes with the instrumental data. A correspondence analysis showed that cultivars could be separated into three clusters, according to their typical aroma. Hexyl acetate, γ-octalactone and γ-decalactone were shown to be key compounds for the apricot flavor whereas benzaldehyde could have a negative impact on the aroma of the less aromatic cultivars but would favorably complete the typical aroma of “Rouge du Roussillon.”