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The Criollo cocoa bean is classified as “fine” or flavor cocoas, being perceived as aromatic or smooth with fruity, raisin, floral, spicy, nutty, molasses, and caramel notes. In the present work, gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was used to study the volatile fingerprint of roasted and unroasted Criollo cocoa from four Amazon districts: Nieva, Cajaruro, Copallín and La Peca located in the Amazon Region of Peru. The results showed that the main sensory perception of cocoa is fruit, and this decreases as the roasting intensity increases. A total of 96 volatile compounds were found, of which the esters had a greater presence in the volatile fingerprint of Criollo cocoa. Propyl acetate (3.5%), acetoin acetate (1.3%) and diethyl succinate (0.8%) were found as the characteristic compounds of Criollo cocoa analyzed, which give it its fruit perception. The linalool/benzaldehyde ratio was between 0.56 and 0.89 for La Peca and Cajaruro cocoa. Principal component analysis revealed that the Criollo cocoa in each district has a different volatile fingerprint, whether it is roasted or unroasted beans. The roasting process generates a greater differentiation of the volatile fingerprint of Criollo cocoa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Essential oils (AE) are used as preservatives in the food industry, due to their physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant activity. The aim of this research was to determine yield (R), specific gravity (GE), refractive index (IR), antioxidant activity (AA) and chemical composition of AE of huacatay (Tagetes minuta), poleo (Minthostachys mollis), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) and sachaculantro (Eryngium foetidum L.), plants collected from 52 districts of the Amazon region, Peru. For each AE, fixed-effect variance analysis was used with three replications and cluster analysis. The antioxidant activity was determined with the free radical method 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydracil (DPPH) and its most abundant components were identified with headspace gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The differences in R, GE and IR were significant between districts. The AA showed no significant difference between the districts, but between the plants itself. Among the most abundant volatile components, 1-adamantanol (44.42%) was identified in huacatay, β-phellandrene (20.85%) in poleo, β-myrcene (34.59%) in rosemary and α-pinene (23.41%) in sachaculantro. It is concluded that the geographic location significantly affects the physicochemical properties of AE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]