Important odorants of sweet bell pepper powder (Capsicum annuum cv. annuum): differences between samples of Hungarian and Morrocan origin

 By application of gas chromatography–olfactometry on aroma extracts prepared from Hungarian sweet bell pepper powder (HBP) and Moroccan sweet bell pepper powder (MBP), 35 and 42 odour-active compounds were detected in the HBP and the MBP, respectively. The identification experiments, in combination with the flavour dilution (FD) factors obtained by application of aroma extract dilution analysis, revealed that β-ionone (violet-like), 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone (furaneol; caramel-like), 3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2(5H)-furanone (Sotolon; seasoning-like) and 2- and 3-methylbutanoic acids had the highest odour activities (FD factors of 8192 to 32768) among the 33 odorants that could be identified in the HBP. All odorants identified in the HBP were also characterized as odour-active volatiles in the MBP. The overall different aroma of the Moroccan sample could, however, be attributed to the lower FD factors of the five key odorants mentioned above and, in addition, to the higher FD factors of 10 odorants not present among the aroma compounds of the HBP, e.g. (Z)-1,5-octadien-3-one. In total, 20 odour-active volatiles are reported here for the first time as volatile bell pepper constituents. Received: 30 July 1999 / Revised version: 11 October 1999