How do pretreatment and frozen storage impact the volatile profiles of Brussels sprouts and leek?

The volatile profiles of Brussels sprouts and leek, as affected by pretreatment combined with frozen storage were analyzed in the present work. The data revealed that, notwithstanding the effect upon pretreatment seemed to be major compared to the effect upon frozen storage, the latter was existent. Pretreatment yielded volatile compounds that could be associated with (bio)chemical reaction pathways in both vegetables. For frozen storage at -20 °C, the effect for leek appeared to be the largest for the blanched and raw samples, possibly due to a substantial amount of substrates present when frozen storage was initiated in this sample compared to the other samples. Those substrates were apparently more prone to be affected upon frozen storage. For Brussels sprouts, this observation was less outspoken. Remarkably, the abundance of markers in pretreated Brussels sprouts seemed to show a decreasing linear trend towards the end of the frozen storage period at -20 °C. As industrial relevant conditions were considered and compared, the insights gained in this study might be relevant to implement on industrial level.