Characterization of the key aroma compounds in Turkish olive oils from different geographic origins by application of aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA).

The aroma and aroma-active compounds of olive oils obtained from Nizip Yaglik (NY) and Kilis Yaglik (KY) cultivars and the effect of the geographical area (southern Anatolian and Aegean regions) on these compounds were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry (GC-MS-O). For this purpose, two oil samples were obtained from their native geographical area including NY from Nizip province and KY from Kilis province (southern Anatolian region of Turkey). Another two oils of the same cultivar, NY-Bornova (NY-B) and KY-Bornova (KY-B), were obtained from the Olive Oil Research Center-Bornova, Izmir province (Aegean region of Turkey) to compare geographical effect on aroma and aroma-active compounds. Simultaneous distillation and extraction (SDE) with dichloromethane was used for extraction of volatile components. SDE gave a highly representative aromatic extract of the studied olive oil based on the sensory analysis. Totals of 61, 48, 59, and 48 aroma compounds were identified and quantified in olive oils obtained from NY, NY-B, KY, and KY-B cultivars, respectively. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the aroma profile of native region oils was discriminately different from those of Bornova region oils. Aldehydes and alcohols were qualitatively and quantitatively the most dominant volatiles in the oil samples. Aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA) was used for the determination of aroma-active compounds of olive oils. The number of aroma-active compounds in native region oils was higher than in Bornova region oils. Within the compounds, aldehydes and alcohols were the largest aroma-active compounds in all olive oils.