title: Rocket salad (Diplotaxis and Eruca spp.) sensory analysis and relation with glucosinolate and phenolic content.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Salad crops of the Brassicaceae family, such as Diplotaxis tenuifolia and Eruca vesicaria, commonly referred to as 'rocket salads', have attracted considerable interest as culinary vegetables because of their strong flavour and their content of putative health-promoting compounds. Among such compounds, glucosinolates and phenolics are well-known phytochemicals with an important role also in determining the characteristic flavour of these species. In this study, to identify potentially high-value rocket salads, 37 cultivated types were examined for sensory characters and their relations with glucosinolate and phenolic contents, which ranged from 0.76 to 3.03 g kg(-1) dry weight (DW) and from 4.68 to 31.39 g kg(-1) DW, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The perception of bitter taste was significantly affected by specific glucosinolates, namely progoitrin/epiprogoitrin and dimeric glucosativin. Aroma intensity was negatively related to glucoalyssin content, whereas pungency was significantly related to total glucosinolate content. Kaempferol-3-(2-sinapoyl-glucoside)-4'-glucoside was positively and significantly related to all flavour trait perceptions. Aroma intensity, pungency, crunchiness and juiciness were positively related to typical rocket salad flavour perception through a prominent direct effect.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Aroma intensity, pungency, crunchiness and juiciness were strong determinants of overall rocket salad flavour perception. Visual traits also characterised sensory components. Bitterness, usually considered a negative flavour trait, was moderately perceived in the examined material, without negatively affecting typical flavour perception. In the range of the examined material, glucosinolate content did not contrast with typical flavour, demonstrating that good taste and putative health-promoting properties may coexist.
authors: Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Food Science University Campus, University of Bologna, Piazza Goidanich 60, I-47521 Cesena (FC), Italy. federica.pasini5@unibo.it
authors: Federica
authors: F
authors: Pasini
authors: Vito
authors: V
authors: Verardo
authors: Lorenzo
authors: L
authors: Cerretani
authors: Maria Fiorenza
authors: MF
authors: Caboni
authors: Luigi Filippo
authors: LF
authors: D'Antuono
mesh_terms: D019607:Brassicaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D005961:Glucosinolates / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D010636:Phenols / Q000032:analysis*; D018515:Plant Leaves; D013649:Taste
chemical_list: D005961:Glucosinolates; D010636:Phenols