Aroma profiles of shalgam: Effect of purple carrot (Daucus carota) amount

Shalgam is a fermented product characterized by its color and aroma compounds. However, there is no standard regarding the amount of use of purple carrot, which is the major raw material in production and affects the fermentation and aroma compounds of the product. This present research was designed to examine the effect of purple carrot concentrations on aroma compounds, which are one of the most important characteristics that reflect the quality characteristics of shalgam and affect consumer preferences. Aroma compounds in shalgam juices produced using five different amounts of carrots were analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector-mass spectrometry (GC-FID-MS). As expected, since the difference between the produced shalgam beverages was only the amount of purple carrots, a qualitative similarity and a quantitative difference were determined in the aroma profiles in general. In the aroma categories defined, terpenes (26 compounds) were the most abundant compounds, followed by esters (17 compounds) and higher alcohols (11 compounds). 88 aroma compounds have been identified in shalgam, and a total of 28 ACs, including 7 terpenes, 7 esters, 3 alcohols, 4 volatile acids, 3 volatile phenols, 1 lactone, 1 norisoprenoid, and 2 naphthalenes, were detected for the first time. The concentration of aromas in the samples varied from 5471.5 to 6490.1 μg/L (p < .05). According to principal component analysis, it was determined that the correlation between the position of the shalgam samples in the coordinate system and the aroma groups was significant. This study shows that purple carrots also affect the aroma compounds of shalgam beverages.