Almonds contain around 50% fat with a health-promoting fatty acid profile that can be extracted by pressing to obtain high-quality oils. To improve oil sensory properties, the almonds can be subjected to roasting treatments before oil extraction. However, intense thermal treatments may cause the appearance of undesirable volatile compounds causing unpleasant aromas. Thus, oils from almonds subjected to different roasting treatments (30, 45, 60 and 90 min at 150 °C) were analyzed from sensory and the chemical points of view. In addition, an electronic device (E-nose) was used in order to evaluate its usefulness in discriminating samples according to their aromas. The almonds’ roasting treatments caused changes in the sensory properties, since defects such as a burned, dry smell or wood fragrance appeared when almonds were subjected to roasting treatments (>45 min). These data agree with the analysis of volatile compounds, which showed an increase in the content of aldehyde and aromatic groups in roasted almonds oils while alcohols and terpenes decreased. Partial least squares discriminant analysis and partial least squares obtained from the E-nose were able to classify samples (97.5% success) and quantify the burned defect of the oils (Rp2 of 0.88), showing that the E-nose can be an effective tool for classifying oils.
Keywords: electronic nose; sensory quality; thermal treatment; volatile compounds.