Abstract
Three varieties of safflower seed oil (SSO) from Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China, were analyzed by headspace solid-phase micro-extraction gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) to reveal volatile components. Overall, 67 volatile components were determined and four compounds including isoamyl alcohol, caproic acid, n-pentanal, and heptanal were newly identified in SSO as aroma-active components. Meanwhile, 16 compounds were selected by relative odor activity value (ROAV) to evaluate contributions of single compounds to the overall odor (ROAV > 1), in which nonanal, (Z)-6-nonenal, and (E)-2,4-decadienal were the top three contributed substances (ROAV > 70). The sensory panel was described as eight definition terms (grassy, fruity, almond, mushroom, fatty, sweet, paddy, and overall fragrance). Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a significant separation of three cultivars with the first principal component (PC-1) and the second principal component (PC-2) expressing 73.9% and 23.1%, respectively. Both PCA and ROAV allowed identifying the compounds positively correlated to sensory evaluation.