Smith, R.L., et al.
Perceived Odor Character of Concord Grape Juice Components Determined by Gas Chromatography - Olfactometry (GCO) with Eight Subjects,
During the gas chromatography-olfactometry (GCO) of grape juice extracts, subjects were asked to associate labels with odorants after they were detected eluting from a gas chromatograph. The labels were chosen from a personal lexicon developed by each subject. This presentation reports the differences observed between the subjects' use of labels and their differences in sensitivity. Eight people (five females and three males) ranging in age from 16 to 19, in good health with the ability to smell a standard set of stimulants: ethyl butanoate, ethyl 2-methyl-butanoate, ethyl hexanoate, 1,8-cineole, menthone, l-menthol, and l-carvone were used as subjects. Frozen enzyme-stabilized Concord grape juice from a single press lot was thawed to 2oC, stored in glass and brought to 25oC prior to extraction and sensory testing. Grape juice containing 1,8-cineole as the internal standard was extracted with Freon 113 and ethyl acetate and analyzed by GCO on a fused silica capillary column coated with methyl silicone. Sniffing serial dilutions of the extracts provided data for an estimation of potency in units called charm values. There were significant individual differences between the subjects in both the labels they chose to associate with the stimulants and the relative potencies exhibited by each stimulant for each subject.