Safranal is the compound mainly responsible for the aroma of saffron spice and can be used as a measure of saffron quality. It is described a “safranal value” of 269 (mostly Spanish) saffron samples by means of a spectrophotometric method based on ISO 3632 and the safranal content using a thermal desorption-gas chromatography method. The variation range of safranal was obtained from both methods, although there was no acceptable lineal correlation between them. Among all saffron samples the Spanish ones had the highest levels and those from Iran the lowest, which might be attributed to the different processes used for dehydrating the stigmas.
Alonso G.L., Salinas M.R., Esteban-Infantes F.J. and Sánchez-Fernández M.A. (1996). Determination of safranal from saffron (Crocus sativus L.) by Thermal Desorption-Gas Chromatography. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry44: 185–188.
2.
Alonso G.L., Salinas M.R. and Garijo J. (1998a). Method to determine the authenticity of aroma of saffron (Crocus sativus L). Journal of Food Protection61: 1525–1528.
3.
Alonso G.L., Salinas M.R., Sánchez-Fernández M.A. and Garijo J. (1998b). Técnicas culturales, métodos de deshidratación y formas de conservación en la producción de azafrán en España. Agrícola VergeXVII-198: 357–370.
4.
Anuario de Estadística Agraria (1993). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Madrid: Mundi-Prensa.
5.
Capelli C. and Di Minco, G. (1999). Risultati di un triennio di studi sulle malattie dello zafferano riscontrate nelle principali aree di coltivazione dell’Abruzzo. Informatore Fitopatologico9: 27–32.
6.
Corradi C. and Micheli G. (1979). Determinazione specttrofotometrica del potere colorante, americante ed odoroso dello zaferano. Bolletino Chimico Farmaceutico118: 553–562.
7.
Curró P.C., Micali G. and Lanuzza L. (1986). Volutazione della frazione volatile dello zafferano mediante gascromatografia dello spazio di testa. Ressegna Chimica6: 331–334.
8.
Himeno H. and Sano K. (1987). Synthesis of crocin, picrocrocin and safranal by saffron stigma-like structures proliferated in vitro. Agricultural and Biological Chemistry51: 2395–2400.
9.
Iborra J.L., Castellar, M.R., Cánovas M. and Manjón A. (1992). TLC preparative purification of picrocrocin, HTCC and crocin from saffron. Journal of Food Science57: 714–717.
10.
ISO 3632-1&2 (1993). Saffron (Crocus sativus L.). The International Organisation for Standardisation (First Edition). Switzerland.
11.
Oberdieck R. (1991). Ein Beitrag zur Kenntins und Analytik von Safran (Crocus sativus L.) Deutsche Lebensmittel-Rundschau87: 246–252.
12.
Ortega Ripoll R. (1996). Diferenciación del origen del azafrán mediante la determinbación del número de safranal. Boletín Técnico Informativo. SOIVRE, Ministerio de Economía y Hacienda. España.
13.
Pérez Bueno M. (1995.) El azafrán. Madrid, Spain: Ed. Mundi-Prensa.
14.
Pfander H. and Schutenberger H. (1982). Biosynthesis of C20-carotenoids in Crocus sativus L. Phytochemistry21: 1039–1042.
15.
Raina B.L., Agarwal S.G., Bhatia A.K. and Gaur G.S. (1996). Changes in pigments and volatiles of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) during processing and storage. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture71: 27–32.
16.
Rödel W. and Petrzika M. (1991). Analysis of the volatile components of saffron. Journal of High Resolution Chromatography14: 771–774.
17.
Sánchez-Fernández M.A. (1996). Caracterización del azafrán de Castilla-La Mancha y comparación con el de otras zonas y países de producción. Tesis Doctoral. Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete. España.
18.
Sampathu S.R., Shivashankar S. and Lewis Y.S. (1988). Saffron (Crocus sativus L): cultivation, processing, chemistry and standardization. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition20: 123–157.
19.
Semiond D., Dautraix S., Desage M., Majdalani R., Casabianca H. and Brazier J.L. (1996). Identification and isotopic analysis of safranal from supercritical fluid extraction and alcoholic extracts of saffron. Analytical Letters29: 1027–1039.
20.
SOIVRE (1996). Parámetros de calidad del azafrán (I). Ministerio de Economía y Hacienda. España.
21.
Tarantilis P.A., Polissiou M. and Manfait M. (1994). Separation of picrocrocin, cis-trans Crocins and safranal of saffron using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with photodiode-array detection. Journal of Chromatography664: 55–61.
22.
Tarantilis P.A., Tsoupras G. and Polissiou M. (1995). Determination of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) components in crude plant extract using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-UV-visible photodiode-array detection-mass spectrometry. Journal of Chromatography699: 107–118.
23.
Tarantilis P.A. and Polissiou M. (1997). Isolation and identification of the aroma components from saffron (Crocus sativus). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry45: 459–462.
24.
Zarghami N. S. and Heinz D.E. (1971). The volatile constituents of saffron. Lebensmittel Wisenschaft & Technologie4: 43–45.
