Abstract: In order to explore the effect of cumin power on volatile flavor compounds in low sugar cookies with stevioside, solid phase micro-extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to characterize the categories and contents of volatile flavor compounds in different cookie food systems, including normal cookies (control), low sugar cookies with 45% (m/m) sugar replaced by stevioside (S) and low sugar cookies with 10% (m/m) cumin powder (S+C). A total of 97 components were identified, and 16 of them were detected in all three samples, while 34 components were detected in low sugar cookies with stevioside (S) but not in the control. Meanwhile, only 25 components were observed in S+C. Aldehydes, ketones and esters were the major volatile compounds in the control samples, and heterocyclic compounds were significantly increased in S cookie samples with the addition of stevioside. The addition of cumin powder resulted in an obvious increase in the contents of aldehydes and alkenes in low-sugar cookies, which reached 48% and 26.51% (accounting for the total flavor compounds), respectively. The main aldehydes were cuminaldehyde (27.45%), 2-caren-10-al (15.01%) and phellandral (3.08%), and the main alkenes were α-pinene (8.08%), γ-terpinene (8.07%), limonene (1.91%) and β-myrcene (1.67%).

Key words: cookies, cumin, low sugar, stevioside, volatile compounds, solid phase micro-extraction/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry