Abstract
A preliminary sensory study conducted on a set of 187 dark chocolates varying in terms of cocoa origin and variety allowed their classification into four distinct sensory categories. Fingerprints in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of these chocolates wereobtained by a direct-injection mass spectrometry headspace method using Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS). This chemical analysis allowed discriminating the four sensory poles, so the sensory discrimination seemed to be mainly based on volatile compounds. Then, the key odorants responsible for chocolates differentiation were determined through identification of targeted aroma compounds by GC-MS after GC-O analyses of extracts representative of each subset of chocolates. Twelve dark chocolates were studied using the detection frequency method. The odour eventsgenerated by a panel of 12 assessors were grouped into 124 odorant areas (OAs).Correspondence analyses allowed distinguishing the samples while identifying 34 OAs that appear relevant to discriminate the chocolates sensory poles. Among these characteristic OAs, five were identified unambiguously with GC-MS and the remainingneed to be resolved from numerous coeluted peaks.