Analysis of aroma components of Japanese strawberry cultivars by GC-O.

We try to identify odor volatile compounds in the fruit of 7 strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) cultivars including 'Toyonoka,' 'Tochiotome,' 'Kurume 58,' 'Kurume IH1,' 'Kitanokagayaki,' 'Bell Rouge,' and 'Pechika'. The odor descriptions of aroma compounds in those extracts were evaluated by GC-O and identified by GC-MS. 74 odorants in the extracts of 7 cultivars were detected by GC-O. 36 of them were contained in all cultivars. Those compounds were thought to be basic components made up of a strawberry aroma. The 74 compounds can be classified roughly into 5 kinds: fruity, sweet, green, sour, and others. The fruity odor is composed mainly of the esters and lactones, such as γ-decalactone, linalool and ethyl 3-methylbutanoate. The sweet odor is composed mainly of the furans, such as 4-Hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-furan-3-one (furaneol). The green odor is composed mainly of the aldehydes, such as E,Z-2,6-nonadienal and Z-2-nonenal. The sour odor is composed mainly of the acids, such as hexanoic and 2-methylbutanoic acids.