Components detected by headspace-solid phase microextraction in artisanal fresh goat's cheese smoked using dry prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indica)

Abstract

The study of the headspace components of six different samples of hand-made fresh goat's cheese smoked with dry prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indica) smoke, protected by the Palmero Denomination of Origin, was carried out. These cheeses were manufactured by six different artisans from the Island of Palma. In spite of this cheese not being a ripened cheese, more than 330 components were detected, by means of solid phase microextraction using a polyacrylate fiber followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The cheese's exterior region was the richest in components because in addition to the characteristic cheese components it also contained all those adsorbed smoke components which had not reacted with the cheese components. The cheese's interior region was the poorest in components because only some of the smoke components had diffused towards the interior. Branched acids associated with goat's cheese flavor were not detected. In spite of the different smoking degree in the samples studied, homogeneous proportions of the main smoke phenolic derivatives were observed. Likewise, although differences in the absolute concentrations of acids were observed, fairly homogeneous proportions of the main acids were found. The absence of terpenes and sesquiterpenes and the presence of some nitrogen derivatives as well as of syringol derivatives in significant concentrations, together with characteristic proportions of phenolic derivatives, allow one to distinguish this Palmero cheese from that smoked with pine needles.