Alkylpyrazines, volatiles formed in the Maillard reaction. II. Sensory properties of five alkylpyrazines

Odour profiles were determined for five selected alkylpyrazines. A list of 22 descriptors was elaborated and used by a panel of ten assessors to describe the odorants, each in four concentrations. Some of the descriptive terms such as pungent, solvent-like and sweet were used by the panel for most of the samples. Other descriptors were found to be applicable only for one or two odorants, for instance mousy, mouse cage, rye crispbread, green, grassy, earthy, vegetable-like, musty, flowery and butterscotch. In general, the intensity of the descriptors increased with increased sample concentration. Chocolate, nutty and roasted are odour characters which have frequently been associated with alkylpyrazines in the literature. Surprisingly, these terms were rarely used by the panel in this investigation.