Aroma constituents and alkylamides of red and green huajiao (Zanthoxylum bungeanum and Zanthoxylum schinifolium).

Huajiao denotes the fruits of various species of Zanthoxylum in the plant family Rutaceare used for cooking. The two most commercially popular species are bungeanum (red huajiao) and schinifolium (green huajiao). Fresh huajiao has a very high content of essential oil, up to 11%, which is described as having fresh, spicy, floral, cooling, and green aroma notes. A comprehensive analysis of the essential oils by GC-MS using advanced peak deconvolution and data processing software, revealed many overlapping components. A total of 120 aroma compounds for each species has been found. In the essential oils, linalyl acetate (15%), linalool (13%), and limonene (12%) are the major components of red huajiao, whereas linalool (29%), limonene (14%), and sabinene (13%) are the major components of green huajiao. For estimation of the aroma contribution of individual components, a new concept, "aroma character impact value" (ACI), is introduced as the percentage of the ratio of the concentration of an aroma component to its odor threshold value. Despite the differences in major components, both species have six common compounds of top aroma character impact: linalool, alpha-terpineol, myrcene, 1,8-cineole, limonene, and geraniol. The tingling sensation of huajiao is caused mainly by the alkylamide hydroxy-alpha-sanshool. The tingling compound decomposes easily under hydrolytic conditions or under UV light.