SENSORY AND INSTRUMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF COMMERCIAL TOMATO VARIETIES

Ten tomato varieties, i.e. Cencara, Daniella, Elena, Ibiza, Lemon Boy, Lucy, Melody, Perfecto, Raf and Rondello, were studied over two conse cutive years by GC and GC-sniffing for their differences in flavour co mposition. Precautions were taken to avoid differences due to the grow th conditions and stage of matu-rity. The aroma profiles obtained from dilutions of the extracts confirm the importance of most compounds pr eviously reported as being key flavour compounds in tomatoes. Moreover , they outline a greater number of other key compounds which had not b een identified or reported as such in the literature. Among them, 2-me thoxyphenol, eugenol, decanal and geranylacetone were identified. Amon g 39 compounds quantified, 27 were found to permit discrimination betw een varieties both in 1992 and 1993. Six varieties were characterised in both years by specific flavour compositions. The differences betwee n varieties is due to particular relative amounts of volatile compound s arising from the metabolism of aliphatic amino acids and carotenoids . Volatile compounds arising from each metabolic processes were found to be highly correlated with each other.