Analytical, Nutritional and Clinical MethodsFlavour profile of capers (Capparis spinosa L.) from the Eolian Archipelago by HS-SPME/GC–MS
Introduction
Capparis spinosa L. (Capparaceae) is a common perennial shrub in the Mediterranean regions, growing both wild and cultivated, with medicinal and aromatic properties. Although its ancient habitat is thought to be the dry areas of western or central Asia, the plant has a natural distribution in the coastal regions of the entire Mediterranean Sea basin; its range stretches from the Atlantic coasts of the Canary Islands and Morocco to the Black Sea to the Crimea and Armenia, and eastward to the Caspian Sea and into Iran.
The first recorded use of C. spinosa was for medicinal purposes in 2000 BC by the Sumerians. The ancient Greeks and Romans also used the plant for these purposes. The fruits and the root of the plant have been used in gout and also as diuretics, astringents and tonics in traditional Iranian medicine (Afsharypuor, Jeiran, & Jazy, 1998). Even its flower buds have some medical uses and are taken to improve liver functions or as a kidney disinfectant. Moreover, it was reported that the plant possesses significant anti-inflammatory activity against carrageenan-induced edema in rats (Al-Said, Abdelsattar, Khalifa, & El-Feraly, 1988).
C. spinosa L. is one of the most commonly found aromatic plants in Mediterranean cooking: the fresh aerial parts, including the fruit and the flower buds, are stored in vinegar or brined and eaten pickled (Zargari, 1986). The floral buds of this plant are commonly named capers; they are harvested in spring before they blossom and are usually processed in brine. The processed buds have long been used in recipes for salads, pasta, meat, sauces and garnishes to add a pungent spicy flavour and aroma to food and have gained a considerable importance in the food industry. Spain is the leading world producer of capers followed by Morocco, Italy and Turkey, respectively. In Italy, they are mainly cultivated in the Eolian Archipelago (1400 quintal/year) and in the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria (404 quintal/year), where they have become an important economic crop.
We previously reported (Giuffrida, Salvo, Ziino, Toscano, & Dugo, 2002) on some chemical constituents of capers from the island of Salina, and now we are studying their flavour profile. There is a very limited number of reports on caper flavour; in fact, the investigation of the flavour profile of capers from Morocco was reported by Brevard, Brambille, Chaintreau, and Marion (1992), and that of capers from Iran was reported by Afsharypuor et al. (1998), which both used distillation-based, volatile extraction techniques. Recently, emphasis has been placed on developing solvent-free sample preparation methods, while flavour study on different food has been of increasing interest due to its relationship with the quality of food products. In the present study, Head Space Solid-Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME) was used, as a solvent-free sample preparation method, with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis, to provide the initial investigation of the flavour profile of capers from the Eolian Archipelago.
Section snippets
Samples
Pickled caper samples were purchased from four local farmers on the island of Salina (Eolian Archipelago, Sicily) in August 2004. The usual commercial processing procedure for preparing pickled capers in Salina consists in a pre-treatment in which raw capers are mixed with marine salt (25% by weight) for about ten days; during this time a brine is formed and fermentation takes place. At the end of this stage the brine is discarded and the capers are treated with marine salt (15% by weight) for
Results and discussion
The GC–MS chromatogram of the flavour profile of capers from the island of Salina (Eolian Archipelago) is shown in Fig. 1. In all, 145 different volatile compounds were identified and grouped in classes of substances (Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, Table 6, Table 7, Table 8, Table 9). Cinnamaldehyde (X = 396.63 ppm) and benzaldehyde (X = 311.34 ppm) were the most abundant aldehydes; the volatile phenylpropanoid are important flavour constituents in herbs and spices and are involved in
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