Identification of the head space volatile compounds in white birch, beech, and hoop pine wooden ice cream sticks was carried out using gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) with a NIST98 library search. The objective of this study was to investigate volatile compounds that match the differentiating mass units. The results showed that stick samples were qualitatively and quantitatively different. A total of 24 compounds were identified, based on greater than 80% match with the library data. The major group of compounds identified contained a carbonyl functional group including phenolic, carbonyl, aromatic aldehyde, and furan. However, many of these compounds have the same masses, implying difficulty in associating the differentiating masses with specific compounds that are of greatest importance in aroma separation. Thus, the use of electronic ionization MS sensor system in electric nose (EN) could only provide an indication the functional group (i.e. aldehydes, acid, et al.) associated with the differentiation of the ice cream stick aromas by the EN method. Combining EN/MS and GC/MS together is useful in differentiating and identifying volatile compounds in different types of sticks.
