Stefania CARPINO 1*, Teresa RAPISARDA 1, Giovanni BELVEDERE 1, Photis PAPADEMAS 2, Maria NEOCLEOUS 3, Iris SCHADT 1, Catia PASTA 1, Giuseppe LICITRA 1,4
1- CoRFiLaC, Regione Siciliana, S.P. 25 km 5 Ragusa-Mare, 97100 Ragusa, Italy
2- Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science, Cyprus University of Technology, 31 Archbishop Kyprianos Str. Limassol Savings Co-operative Bank Building, 3036 Lemesos, Cyprus
3- Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, 1411 Nicosia, Cyprus
4- D.A.C.P.A., Catania University, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95100 Catania, Italy
Trachanas is one of the most important traditional food products of Cyprus. It is made from fermented sheep or goat’s milk or a mixture of both. The fermented milk is heated and crushed wheat is added to produce a porridge mixture. The mixture is then dried and stored in the form of “biscuits”. Dehydration is performed either by sun, at a domestic level, or industrially using an oven. The objective of this study was to detect differences in aroma compounds of sun-dried or oven-dried Trachanas samples. Six samples (three sun-dried batches and three oven-dried batches) were prepared to make a porridge mixture according to the Cypriot tradition. Dried Trachanas samples were chemically analysed by the electronic nose SMart Nose system, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and by gas chromatography-mass spectrometryolfactometry (GC/MS/O). Triangle tests were also performed by a panel of 30 people from the CoRFiLaC staff in Ragusa, Italy. Principal component analysis applied to SMart Nose results showed a good separation between sun and oven-dried samples: Sun-dried samples showed a higher variability explained by the traditional process, in comparison to the oven-dried samples. GC/MS and GC/MS/O analysis showed higher numbers of compounds for the sun-dried Trachanas samples. In particular, double the number of odour active compounds were detected by GC/MS/O in the sun-dried samples, revealing that the use of the oven in the dehydration process generally resulted in a lower intensity of aroma. Triangle test confirmed instrumental results and clearly indicated detectable differences by consumers between sun- and oven-dried Trachanas.
Keywords: fermented food, cereal, dehydration, dairy food, aroma compound, electronic nose, gas chromatography, olfactometry
Stefania Carpino
Dir. Ricerca
carpino@corfilac.it
