Novel vessel for the measurement of dynamic flavor release in real time from liquid foods

A glass vessel that will measure the dynamic flavor release of aroma volatiles from model liquid foods in real time has been built. The sample is maintained at 37 degrees C and stirred at constant torque. Volatiles released into the headspace are continuously swept by a constant carrier gas flow into a quadrupole mass spectrometer via a jet separator. The mass spectrometer is operated in the chemical ionization mode, and single ion monitoring of the major ion associated with each volatile allows real time detection. The apparatus was used to measure the effect of alcohol content on the dynamic flavor release of four volatile compounds from four different water/ethanol mixtures.