title: Inferring the origin of rare fruit distillates from compositional data using multivariate statistical analyses and the identification of new flavour constituents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Serbia, delicatessen fruit alcoholic drinks are produced from autochthonous fruit-bearing species such as cornelian cherry, blackberry, elderberry, wild strawberry, European wild apple, European blueberry and blackthorn fruits. There are no chemical data on many of these and herein we analysed volatile minor constituents of these rare fruit distillates. Our second goal was to determine possible chemical markers of these distillates through a statistical/multivariate treatment of the herein obtained and previously reported data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Detailed chemical analyses revealed a complex volatile profile of all studied fruit distillates with 371 identified compounds. A number of constituents were recognised as marker compounds for a particular distillate. Moreover, 33 of them represent newly detected flavour constituents in alcoholic beverages or, in general, in foodstuffs. With the aid of multivariate analyses, these volatile profiles were successfully exploited to infer the origin of raw materials used in the production of these spirits. It was also shown that all fruit distillates possessed weak antimicrobial properties.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems that the aroma of these highly esteemed wild-fruit spirits depends on the subtle balance of various minor volatile compounds, whereby some of them are specific to a certain type of fruit distillate and enable their mutual distinction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18000, Niš, Serbia.
authors.forename: Tatjana M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Mihajilov-Krstev
authors.forename: Marija S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Denić
authors.forename: Bojan K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Zlatković
authors.forename: Vesna P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Stankov-Jovanović
authors.forename: Violeta D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Mitić
authors.forename: Gordana S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Stojanović
authors.forename: Niko S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Radulović
mesh_terms: D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000032:analysis*; D005421:Flavoring Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000032:analysis*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000032:analysis; D027824:Rosaceae; D027923:Sambucus; D013649:Taste; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D005421:Flavoring Agents; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010936:Plant Extracts; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
keywords: antimicrobial activity; chemical marker compounds; dichloromethane extract; statistical analysis; wild-fruit distillates