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In order to investigate the minor volatile compounds of traditional homemade fruit brandies from Romania (Transylvania region), as a result of their assortment and provenience, a number of 26 samples (18 plum brandies samples from 3 different counties, 4 samples of apple brandy and 4 samples of pear brandy) were analyzed using liquid-liquid extraction and gas- chromatography coupled with mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. The GC-MS chromatograms of the hexane extracts led to the identification of 34 compounds (9 terpenes, 14 fatty acids esters, 3 free fatty acids, 4 carboxylic acid esters, 1 hydrocarbon, 1 aldehyde and 1 acetal). The most abundant compounds were the fatty acid esters. Chemometric analysis (Principal Component Analysis-PCA) was applied to discriminate the differences between the volatiles' fingerprint. Considering the plum brandy samples, significant differences have been observed according to their provenience region. Based on relative abundance of determined compounds important differences among samples from different counties can be seen.. Ethyl hexadecanoate was the main factor for this discrimination. When compared the three types of fruit brandies, significant differences were noticed for their content in ethyl esters of hexanoic, benzoic and hexadecanoic acids. For some plum brandies, according to their fingerprint, possible adulteration with apple brandy can be noted, based on their similar volatiles' pattern. The pear brandy was strongly delimitated by the other two types of brandies. The PCA data showed a good discrimination according to the region of provenience of the plum brandies in parallel with the composition specificity of the three analyzed fruit brandies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There were analyzed samples of fruit distillates from the two stages of distillation process, first distillate and the second distillate, as apple brandy originating from Bistriţa-Năsăud County, Transylvania provenience and were collected directly from the producer soon after the process ended. We investigated 10 major volatile compounds (acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, methanol, 1 -propanol, 1- butanol, 2-butanol, isobutylic alcohol, isoamylic alcohol, amyl active alcohol and furfural) by gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). We used reference chemicals to identify these compounds and 3-pentanol as internal standard to quantify the volatiles. This analysis permitted to observe the differences between the two distillates. Acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate and methanol have smaller amounts in the second distillation step. Furfural and higher alcohols registered different evolution in the last distillation step. They were higher then in the first distillate. The factors which differentiate the two samples can be separation of. fractions (heads, hearts and tails), temperature, quality of raw material and the fermentation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, the major volatile compounds from three categories of traditional fruit brandies (plum, apple and pear) were characterized by gas-chromatography (GC-FID). There were collected 26 samples from different locations of Transylvania (Romania), all made by traditional technologies involving fermentation in barrels and distillation in copper stills. The major volatile compounds, besides ethanol, identified and quantified were: acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, methanol, 1-propanol, 2-butanol, iso-butylic alcohol, alcool amyl active, iso-amylic alcohol, 1-butanol and furfural. For each type of brandy, positive but no significant correlations between methanol and furfural concentrations in plum and apple brandy were noticed. To evaluate the differences in composition regarding the geographical origin of plum brandies and to analyze the composition of plum, apple and pear brandies it has been compared the mean values (MVP , MVA and MVPe) obtained for each volatile. For plum brandies it has been observed differences among the mean values of each volatile, in samples originating from counties Cluj, Bistrița-Năsăud and Maramureş. For methanol, acetaldehyde and 1-propanol the MVP Cluj values were signiicantly higher than MVP Bistrița-Năsăud. For iso-butylic alcohol, amyl active alcohol, iso-amylic alcohol the MVP Cluj values were significantly higher than for Bistrița-Năsăud and Maramureş, while for ethyl acetate and furfural the MVP Bistrița-Năsăud were signiicantly higher than MVP Cluj and MVP Maramureş. When compared the mean values of volatiles in plum vs apple vs pear brandies, for ethyl acetate, methanol, 2-butanol, 1-propanol and 1-butanol, the MVPe values were significantly higher than MVA, for furfural, amyl active and iso-amylic alcohols, while for acetaldehyde the MVPe values were significantly higher than MVP. Methanol represented the major volatile component, characteristic to fruit brandies, released by enzymatic degradation of methoxylated pectins. Therefore, this molecule can be considered not only a parameter of distillate safety but also an indicator of natural origin of distillate and traditional processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]