COMPARISONS OF AROMA EXTRACTS OF HEAT-TREATED CEREALS

Extracts of popcorn, rice, dent corn, and sorghum were obtained using simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) and concentrated with a spi nning band still. Gas chromatographic (GC) profiles of their extracts and gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) identification showed that two compounds, N-furfuryl-pyrrole and N-furfuryl-2-formyl pyrrole , were present in extracts of popcorn, but present only in trace amoun ts in corn and not present in the extracts of rice and sorghum. This s uggests these two compounds may be important for popcorn aroma. The GC profiles of popcorn extracts with and without germ were essentially t he same, indicating that the germ does not play an important role in p opcorn aroma. The two pyrroles above and certain other heat-induced ar oma compounds found in popcorn extracts were not present in an extrude d corn meal extract This appears to account for the lack of aroma in e xtruded corn meal. GC profile comparison of the extracts from dent cor n and dent corn supplemented with hydroxyproline showed that the peak areas of N-furfuryl-pyrrole and N-furfuryl-2-formylpyrrole in the supp lemented corn increased 130 and 20 times, respectively.