Abstract: This work was conducted to compare the effects of ultra-high pressure (UHP) and heat treatments on the volatile components of Chinese seabuckthorn pulp. The pulp was subjected to UHP treatment at 500 MPa at 30 ℃ for 15 min or heat treatment at 90 ℃ for 40 min. The volatile components of the two treated samples were analyzed by headspace solid-phase micro-extraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). The results showed that UHP treatment increased the amount of volatile components in seabuckthorn pulp by 61% as compared to heat treatment. A significant difference in the content of each group of volatile components was found between both treatments and the contents of alcohols and esters were significantly higher in the UHP-treated pulp than in the heat-treated pulp; the UHP-treated pulp contained more esters and acids, while there was no difference was observed for all other groups of volatile compounds. A total of 12 aroma compounds with odor activity value greater than 0.2 were identified in seabuckthorn pulp and of these, 10 including α-terpineol and ethyl hexanoate were more abundant in the UHP-treated pulp than in the heat-treated pulp while nonanal and 3-methyl butyric acid were significantly lower. To sum up, UHP treatment significantly improved the volatile composition of Chinese seabuckthorn pulp, which was closely related to promoting the release of substrates and activating glycosidase and esterase for the breakdown of bound volatile compounds.

Key words: seabuckthorn pulp, ultra-high pressure, heat treatment, volatile components