Flavor quality of cultivated strawberries: the role of the sulfur compounds

For determination of the importance of the different aroma components for strawberry flavor at several times, different varieties of strawberries were organoleptically evaluated for flavor intensity and quantitative GC-MS analyses were performed. Interpretation of the results consisted of correlating the organoleptic data with the concentrations of the flavor components, representatively isolated by headspace concentration on Tenax. In some comparisons significant sensory flavor intensity data could be related to the sum of the concentration of the volatiles, released when macerating the fruits. In other cases, especially with "older" varieties, the difference in amount of sulfur-containing compounds, which compared to the esters were present at a much lower concentration, had to be taken into account. The methylthiol esters, methylthiol acetate and methylthiol butyrate, are reported for the first time in strawberries.