Analysis of Volatiles in Limoncello Liqueur and Aging Study with Sensory

摘要

Limoncello is a liqueur originating from Southern Italy, and in more recent times has also been produced in neighboring countries around the Mediterranean region. It is traditionally produced by the maceration (7) of lemon peel in grain alcohol, water and sugar and has a distinctive bright yellow color. It has a sweet lemony taste which is not sour, as it does not contain any lemon juice. This paper describes its homemade preparation, liquid/liquid solvent extraction and gas chromatography (GC) analysis. In addition detailed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analytical data was obtained on a sector instrument of fresh limoncello versus five month aged Limoncello volatiles. Previous analytical work (2, 3) has described over sixty volatile components in Limoncello; the analytical work presented here identifies over two hundred components. In addition compositional changes that occur with aging are described and related to gas-chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) work. These changes appear to differ from those found in lemon juices or carbonated drinks.