Ayvalik is an important olive cultivar producing high quality oils in Turkey. In the present study, volatile and phenolic compositions of early-harvest extra virgin olive oil (cv. Ayvalik) were determined. The solvent-assisted flavor evaporation (SAFE) technique was used for the extraction of volatile components. The aromatic extract obtained by SAFE was representative of the olive oil odor. A total of 32 aroma compounds, including alcohols, aldehydes, terpenes, esters, and an acid, were identified in the olive oil. Aldehydes and alcohols were qualitatively and quantitatively the most dominant volatiles in the oil sample. Of these, six volatile components presented odor activity values (OAVs) greater than one, with (Z)-3-hexenal (green), hexanal (green-sweet) and nonanal (fatty-pungent) being those with the highest OAVs in olive oil. A total of 14 phenolic compounds were identified and quantified by liquid chromatography combined with a diode array detector and ion spray mass spectrometry. The major phenolic compounds were found as 3,4-DHPEA-EDA, 3,4-DHPEA-EA and p-HPEA-EDA.

Turkish Nigella sativa L. seed extracts were used to detect the aroma and key odorant compounds of the spice using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry (GC-MS-O). Volatile compounds were extracted by the purge and trap extraction (PTE) method. A total of 32 volatile compounds consisting of different chemical classes acids (13), alcohols (7), phenols (3), terpene (1), esters (2), ketones (2), aldehyde (1), lactone (1) and hydrocarbons (2) were determined. The amounts of volatile compounds were found to be 21,544 µg kg⁻¹. The application of aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA) revealed the presence of 13 odor-active compounds alcohols (2), carboxylic acids (4), phenols (2), terpene (1), ketone (1), hydrocarbon (1) and unknown compounds (2) in Nigella sativa L. extract. Flavor dilution (FD) factors of key odorants ranged between 4 and 1024, while odor activity values (OAV) were in the range of 1.0 to 170.8. Acetoin was the only aroma-active ketone detected in Nigella sativa L. seed extracts. It had the strongest aroma (FD = 1024) and provided a buttery odor. This compound represented the most abundant compound of overall aroma profile with a concentration of 9394 µg kg⁻¹, followed by isobutanoic acid (FD = 512 with a concentration of 218 µg kg⁻¹) and contributed a powerful aroma and a cheesy characteristic odor.