Determination of major volatile compounds during the production of fruit vinegars by static headspace gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method

A static headspace gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (SHS–GC–MS) method was validated to determine several major volatile components during the production process of fruit vinegars. The method is simple, fast, linear in the working range, suitably sensitive, repeatable and reproducible, and has a good degree of accuracy for most of the compounds studied. Different conditions were tested in the production process of vinegars by means of double fermentation. The addition of SO2 and pectolytic enzymes produced a considerable increase in methanol and acetaldehyde, especially in strawberry purees, whereas pressing led to a loss of these volatile compounds. In the alcoholic fermentation of persimmon and strawberry purees, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain used had a great influence on the production of acetaldehyde and higher alcohols in wines. Considering the influence of these studied compounds in the final profile of the vinegars, our results showed that the S. cerevisiae strain isolated in this study produced the most suitable wine substrates for the production of vinegars. Moreover, semisolid fruit substrate provides better results than liquid substrate. Inoculated acetification in wood recipients yielded vinegars with a better volatile profile, as these contained higher levels of most compounds except acetaldehyde.