Abstract SCHIRACK, ANDRIANA VAIS. The Effect of Microwave ...

Future Work
In future work, analysis of peanut flavor compounds before roasting may
further illuminate the chemical changes caused by microwave blanching. During
roasting, many flavors originating from the raw product might be obscured, as was
seen in green coffee beans (Yeretzian and others 2002). In addition, more chemical
anchors (standards) could be assigned to the attributes in the peanut lexicon. Just
as certain fruity esters and short chain organic acids have been associated with the
fruity/fermented off-flavor (Didzbalis and others 2004), and guaiacol can be used to
demonstrate the attribute of ashy, other chemical standards could be established.
This would help in the training of panelists and could provide a basis to further
instrumentally classify differences between peanut varieties as well as peanuts from
different geographical locations, which have been shown to vary in flavor (Sanders
and others 1992). This research demonstrated that we do not fully understand the
importance of the relative concentrations of aroma compounds needed to achieve
good quality peanut flavor. To aid this understanding, omission experiments (in
which one or more compounds are omitted from an aroma model) could be
conducted to pinpoint those compounds key to peanut flavor, as for example has
been done in coffee (Grosch 2001; Czerny and others 1999).
Peanuts are not only valuable for their flavor attributes, but also for their
nutritional benefits, some of which may not be known to the average consumer.
Peanuts are a good source of mono- and polyunsaturated fats (Hoffpauir 1953),
which have been connected to better heart health in nutritional literature (Kris-
Etherton and others 2001), and phytosterols such as beta-sitosterol, which may
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