Review of apple flavor--state of the art.

The retention flavor is of utmost importance during the harvesting, handling and/or further processing of apples. The complexity of the natural flavor of the apple or essence derived therefrom is attributed in part to the variety, post-harvest treatment, storage, and process manipulation. Some 266 volatile components isolated from apples include alcohols, esters, aldehydes, ketones, ethers, acids, bases, acetals, and hydrocarbons. This review is a survey of the literature published during the last 10 to 15 years and includes the contribution of peel to flavor, postharvest quality indices related to flavor, storage and dehydration effects on flavor, juice extraction methods, sensory evaluation, and volatile separation and identification techniques.