The Volatile Compounds of Elderberries (Sambucus nigra L.)

Abstract

Elderberry is widely used as both food and medicinal plant in Europe. It has been used to colour jams, jellies, juices and wines (Inami, Tamura, Kikuzaki, & Nakatani, 1996). Elderberries are used traditionally to make elderberry wine, liqueurs, marmalade, juice, tea, jam and pies. The berry infusion is consumed as diuretic, laxative, diaphoretic, and anti-inflammatory. The berries are used to treat flu and to stimulate the immune system. The elderberry juice or tea is suggested to drink for several times per day for well-being (Vlachojannis, Cameron, & Chrubasik, 2010). The aroma composition of elderberries are very important because of their uses as food stuff. The characteristic aroma of elderberries is due to (E)-?-damascenone, dihydroedulan, ethyl-9-decenoate, 2-phenyl ethanol, phenylacetaldehyde and nonanal. The fruity-sweet odour in juice and other products comes from aliphatic esters such as ethyl 2-methylbutanoate, ethyl 3- methylbutanoate, methyl heptanoate, methyl octanoate, methyl nonanoate. Also, alcohols and aldehydes are frequently identified groups in elderberry chemistry.

In our study, we aimed to determine the volatile compounds in elderberries, which are used as a herbal tea ingredient in Turkey. Hence, the air-dried mature elderberries subjected to microdistillation were analysed by GC and GC-MS systems, simultaneously. The aldehydes were the main groups among the volatiles in elderberries