Influence of the drying conditions on the volatile compounds of pasta

The effect of drying temperatures on the profile of volatile compounds of pasta was studied. The solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry allowed to identify 72 volatile compounds in the samples of not-dried, low-temperature-dried (LT-dried), high-temperature-dried (HT-dried), and wrongly very-high-temperature-dried (WVHT-dried) pastas. The samples of not-dried pasta contained alcohols, aldehydes, short-chain ketones, esters, furans, and some sulfur compounds. In the LT-dried pasta, the volatile aldehydes derived from lipid oxidation were more abundant than in HT-dried pasta. HT-dried pasta showed higher levels of furan and furan derivatives (especially 2-furanmethanol), derived from the Maillard reaction, than LT-dried pasta (p < 0.05). Pyrazines arose from WVHT treatment. Significant differences were observed also for the color indices when comparing pasta subjected to LT and HT drying (p < 0.001). Several volatile Maillard reaction products were significantly correlated (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01) to a* and 100 − L*. The ratio aldehydes/furans allowed distinguishing in a significant way the treatments, independently from the lot characteristics