Quantitative determination and characteristic flavour of daidai (Citrus aurantium L. var.cyathifera Y. Tanaka) peel oil

Daidai (Citrus aurantium L. var. cyathifera Y. Tanaka) peel oil was extracted by cold-pressing. The flavour components of daidai were quantitatively determined using two internal standards with GC and GC – MS. The characteristic flavour components of daidai were examined by GC – olfactometry. The percentages by weight of hydrocarbons (16 compounds), esters (12 compounds), alcohols (11 compounds) and aldehydes (10 compounds) were approximately 96.4%, 2.1%, 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively. Geranial, octyl acetate, geraniol, octanal, cedrol, cis-limonene oxide, trans-2-decenal, linalyl acetate and β-elemol were identified as characteristic flavour components of daidai. Terpenes were the major components of daidai peel oil, but they contributed little to the characteristic flavour of daidai. Linalyl acetate and β-elemol had the highest flavour dilution factors. The results of the omission test showed geraniol, octanal, linalyl acetate and cis-limonene oxide to be the active components of the daidai flavour. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.