Headspace methods for volatile components of grapefruit juice

Summary Static headspace, dynamic headspace (DHS) and strip/trap methods were evaluated with grapefruit juice volatiles and an aqueous model system of selected grapefruit volatile flavour components, to select the best method for the isolation of volatile components for subsequent GC analysis.Recoveries were calculated for these methods in the concentration range 0.01–10gml^–1 and compared. Analyte trapping followed by thermal desorption was performed with Tenax TA traps which gave good results in terms of very low blanks. DHS analysis gave the best results in terms of recovery efficiency and, if adequately combined with a simultaneous steam distillation/solvent extraction method, is the most suitable for the qualitative and quantitative investigation of grapefruit juice volatiles, and it might be extended to other fruit juices or liquid foods.