Roasted Peanut Flavor and Related Compositional Characteristics of Peanut Kernels of Spring and Fall Crops Grown in Taiwan

Spring and Fall crops of peanut are grown each year in Taiwan. A general consumer concept indicating that the roasted peanut flavor of the kernels of the former is inferior to the latter deserves further investigation. Tainan 11 and Tainan 12 (Spanish cultivars) were consecutively grown for two crops in an experimental field with green pea for rotation and harvested 70 days after flowering. In compositional analyses of the sound and mature kernels, the ratio of the contents of typical and atypical flavor precursors of free amino acids (T:AT) was higher while the sucrose content was lower in the kernels of Fall crops than those of Spring crops. In headspace analysis, the total volatile content varied insignificantly while the sulfur volatile content was higher in the kernels of Spring crops. When the kernels were roasted and subjected to peanut oil and flavor extraction and GC-MS analysis of the pyrazine compounds, the contents of the total pyrazines and most of the peanut flavor-related pyrazines were higher in the kernels of Fall crops than those of Spring crops.