Use of an electronic nose to study the contribution of volatiles to orange juice flavor

Ideal orange juice and orange juice from which the volatile compounds had been stripped were analyzed using an electronic nose. In the ideal juice, d-limonene was the volatile in highest concentration. The stripped orange juice contained less than 1% of the original d-limonene and all other volatiles were reduced to below levels of detection as measured by gas-chromatography analysis. The electronic nose was able to distinguish between the two orange juices, ideal and volatile stripped. Four commercial orange juice essences were added to the stripped orange juice at concentrations up to 2%. The differences, as measured by the electronic nose, between the original orange juice and the volatile stripped orange juice were reduced when orange essence was added to the volatile stripped juice. In orange juice flavor, a-pinene, sabinene, beta-myrcene, and d-limonene appear to play an important role.