Volatiles of Fresh and Commercial Sweet Red Pepper Pastes: Processing Methods and Microwave Assisted Extraction

Microwave-assisted hexane or water extraction was used to extract flavor compounds from fresh red pepper fruit and also from traditionally and industrially made pepper pastes. The composition of the volatile components from each extract was analyzed using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time of flight mass spectrometry. In total, 79 compounds were determined including 15 alcohols, 14 terpenes, 13 aldehydes, 12 ketones, 7 fatty acids, 6 fatty acid esters, and 6 browning reaction products. The major common compounds of fresh pepper and the pastes were 2-pentanone, 3-hexanol, acetic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid. The compounds (E)-2-undecenal, farnesol, 2-pentadecyn-1-ol, linolenic acid, and squalene were found only in the fresh pepper samples. Browning reaction products were observed in both of the pastes. However, their concentration was much higher in the industrially made one. Microwave-assisted hexane extraction from the traditionally made pepper paste gave the highest number of volatiles. Many volatiles considered to possess pleasant aroma characteristics were observed only in the traditionally made paste.