Flavour and off-flavour compounds of black and white pepper (Piper nigrum L.) III. Desirable and undesirable odorants of white pepper

Quantification of 19 odorants and calculation of their odour activity value s were together the basis for an aroma model which reflected the odour prof ile of a white pepper sample having a faecal off-flavour. Omission tests in dicated limonene, linalool, alpha-pinene, 1,8-cineole, piperonal, butyric a cid, 3-methylbutyric acid, methylpropanal, and 2- and 3-methylbutanal as ke y odorants of white pepper. The faecal off-flavour was caused by skatole an d was enhanced by the presence of p-cresol. In six samples of white pepper the intensity of the faecal off-flavour paralleled the concentration of bot h skatole and p-cresol. In the sample with the strongest off-flavour the co ncentrations amounted to 2.6 mg/kg (skatole) and 12.4 mg/kg (p-cresol).