GC-MS profile of homemade fruit brandies

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze volatile congeners in different types of homemade fruit brandies by applying gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Volatile compounds were analyzed in seven samples, and the number of identified compounds in the studied samples varied between 12 and 35. An enriched volatile profile was determined for the plum samples, whereas the number of identified compounds was significantly reduced in the case of pear and raspberry samples. From a qualitative point of view, brandies obtained from different fruits showed significant differences because only two compounds (furfural and ethyl decanoate) among 60 identified were found to be common to all examined samples. Regarding the class of identified compounds, esters were the most dominant class identified in all samples, with ethyl lactate being the most prevalent compound except the raspberry brandy sample, which was dominated by alcohols, with pentanol being the major compound. The results obtained in this study have shown that brandies from different fruits are very different in both qualitative and quantitative composition of volatile compounds.