This study focused on optimizing a cold water extraction method to obtain bioactive compounds from chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.), addressing increasing consumer demand for natural products and nutraceuticals. A full-factorial design was employed to evaluate the effects of temperature, time, and chamomile amount on the polyphenolic profile of extracts. The samples were characterized by HPLC-DAD and UV-Vis coupled with chemometrics; the analysis showed that extraction time negatively affected extract quality, as did the interaction between time and temperature. In addition, a significant positive quadratic effect for temperature and a positive coefficient for chamomile amount was found. ASCA was used to assess the UV-Vis profile, offering an alternative untargeted method for understanding the variable effects. The optimal extraction conditions (25 °C, 32 min, and 2.5 g of chamomile) produced samples high in hydroxybenzoic and hydroxycinnamic acids and flavanol derivatives. Using A face-centered design, this study also monitored antioxidant activity via a DPPH scavenging assay, confirming that the optimal conditions yielded samples within the range of maximum antioxidant activity in the studied experimental domain.

The Flat White Onion of Fara Filiorum Petri is a traditional Italian landrace that represents the agrobiodiversity and gastronomic heritage of the Abruzzo region. However, its volatile composition has not yet been characterized. In this study, the volatile profile of 31 samples of Flat White Onion of Fara Filiorum Petri and other (53) Italian white onions was investigated by headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). A total of 51 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were tentatively identified as characteristic of onion aroma. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a characteristic volatilomic fingerprint for the Flat White Onion of Fara Filiorum Petri and highlighted a high degree of consistency between the two harvest years, indicating that seasonal variability mainly affected the relative abundance of selected VOCs while preserving the overall volatile profile. Authentication was subsequently investigated using Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA). The optimal model correctly recognized 88.9% of Fara samples in the external test set while rejecting all non-Fara onions, achieving 100.0% specificity. These findings demonstrate that HS-SPME-GC-MS combined with chemometric analysis provides an effective approach for the characterization and authentication of the FlatWhite Onion of Fara Filiorum Petri, supporting the conservation of this Italian landrace.