SENSORY CHARACTERIZATION OF VIRGIN OLIVE OIL AND RELATIONSHIP WITH HEADSPACE COMPOSITION

Thirty samples of virgin olive oil were analysed by sensory and instru mental methods. Free-choice profiling and quantitative descriptive ana lysis were used for odour analysis, and GC-MS for the analysis of head space volatiles. Principal component analysis and partial least square s regression analysis were used for relating sensory and instrumental data. Similar clusters of samples were obtained from principal compone nts analyses of both data sets. Partial least squares regression made good predictions from headspace data of some of the descriptors used i n quantitative descriptive analysis. The prediction of cut grass odour was obtained in particular from five unidentified compounds. The five compounds had similar mass spectra, but GC-sniffport analysis showed that only one of them (possibly isomers or homologues) gave an aroma t hat could be related to the cut grass descriptor.