Key aroma compounds in Tom Yum Flavour Available to Purchase

Tom Yum Flavour consists of galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves essential oil mixture. Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) with Gas Chromatography - Olfactometry (GC-O) with odour sniff port and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to identify the odour and type of aroma compounds in Tom Yum flavour, respectively. The optimization of extraction conditions for volatile compounds analysis was determined. The effects of SPME fiber coating, extraction time and incubation temperature on the total quantity of volatile compounds (TQVC) were studied. The result showed that DVB/CAR/PDMS-50/30 µm with a 40 min extraction at 50°C was the optimum condition for analysis. Detection Frequency Analysis of flavour compounds was used. The eleven trained panels were asked to sniff the GC-O effluent to descript the odour perceived and subsequent volatile identifications by GC-MS were determined. Thirty-six aroma compounds were detected. The NIF and SNIF values of each compound were calculated. Seven key aroma compounds were identified by using a NIF value > 80%. Those key volatile compounds were beta-pinene, 1,8 -cineole, linalool, citronellal, 4-terpinenol, neral ((Z) – citral) and geranial ((E)-citral).