SPICESFLAVORCHEMISTRYANDANTIDIOXIDANTPROPERTIES, edited by Sara J. Risch and Chi-Tang Ho,ACS Symposium Series 660, Washington, DC, 1997. No. of

pages: x � 253. ISBN 0-8412-3495-7.

Spices are among the earliest ingredients used for cooking.

They are widely used in food products to create the distinctive¯avourand character that is representative of di�erent cuisines.In addition, spices have long been used to help preserve food,as well as to help maintain health and prevent disease.

This book is the result of the interest shown by the ACS'sDivision of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, which spon-sored a symposium on the ¯avour and antioxidant properties

of spices in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 24±28, 1996.This symposium aimed to look at new developments in thearea of spice chemistry.

The book contains the proceedings of this symposium aswell as additional papers to round out the scope of the topic.There are 19 original papers in total, distributed in foursections. The ®rst section is a general overview and exposition

of methods, followed by three sections related to the centraltheme of the book: `Flavour Chemistry', `Analytical Tech-niques' and `Antioxidant Properties of Spices'.

The section on `Flavour Chemistry' deals with aspects suchas identi®cation of character impact ¯avour compounds andthe study of their formation mechanisms; alternative methods

of production for some spice-like ¯avours by plant tissueculture; growing plant factors in¯uencing ¯avour intensity;

and contribution of some precursors to the ¯avour of indi-vidual spices, like Allium vegetables.This section related to `Analytical Techniques' shows a

variety of techniques for analysing spice aromas. Severalexamples can be found here, illustrating the application ofdi�erent techniques: gas chromatography±olfactometry

and aroma extract dilution analysis; direct thermal extractionand chromatography±mass spectrometry; high perform-ance liquid chromatography and chemiluminescent nitrogendetection; supercritical ¯uid aroma extraction; high perform-

ance liquid chromatography±electrospray mass spectrometry;and numerical methods for identifying spices and analysingmixed spices. No sensory analyses of spices are found

in this book, nor recently developed analytical techniquesfor analysing food aromas, e.g. solid-phase microextraction.The last section is dedicated to the potential health bene®ts

that speci®c components in spices may provide by means oftheir `Antioxidant Properties'. Special attention is paid inthis area to the antioxidative e�ects of curcumin and bothisolated and synthetic curcumin-analogous compounds

(curcuminoids).The value of this book must be regarded as its provision of

the latest knowledge in the speci®c area of spice chemistry.

Thus, it can be recommended to all who are interested notonly in spice chemistry, but also in general ¯avour chemistry.

DR ISIDRO HERMOSIN GUTIERREZ

Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain

FLAVOUR SCIENCE: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS,

edited by A. J. Taylor and D. S. Mottram, The Royal Societyof Chemistry, Cambridge, 1996. No. of pages: xiv � 476,price £69.50. ISBN 0±85404±702±6.

This book is the proceedings of the Eighth Weurman FlavourResearch Symposium which was held 23±26 July 1996in Reading, UK. According to the principles laid down by

Cornelius Weurman, the Symposium was limited to105 invited active participants from 17 countries throughoutthe world. The book contains 86 lectures, posters and

workshop presentations. These are divided into eight sections:`Flavour of Biological Origin' (17 papers), `BiotechnologicalProduction of Flavour' (8 papers), `Chirality and Flavour'

(5 papers), `Thermally Generated Flavour' (17 papers),`Novel Methods of Flavour Analysis' (9 papers), `SensoryMethods in Flavour' (10 papers), `Flavour Binding andFlavour Release' (17 papers) and `Workshops' (3 reports).

Obviously all of these papers cannot be mentioned in a reviewof this length.`Flavours of Biological Origin' includes new work on

seafood, cheese and meat (sheep and dry-cured hams) andmany plant products: tomatoes, buchu leaf, tarragon, lovage,Cucumis melo, cempedak, citrus hybrids and strawberry.

In addition, the volatiles of the silk tree, Albizzia julibrissin,and an Indonesian soy sauce are discussed. `BiotechnologicalProduction of Flavours' includes papers on the volatiles

formed by a phototrophic cell culture of grapefruit and byfungal spores, the production of vanillin, and new sulphurcompounds from the alga metabolite 3-dimethylsulphonium

propionate. The determination of diacetyl in the presence of

a-acetolactic acid and the reduction of pentane-2,3-dionewith bakers' yeast are also discussed, as are the volatilesproduced by Staphylococcus xylosus in a meat/fat system

which simulates sausage production. The importance ofchirality with relation to ¯avour is well known but it is shownwith citrus oils that racemization can occur during proces-sing. Elegant labelling experiments demonstrate that g- andd-lactones are formed by di�erent biochemical pathways. Thelactone isolated from GewuÈ rztraminer wine is shown to be(3S,3aS,7aR)-3a,4,5,7a-tetrahydro-3,6-dimethyl-2(3H)-benzo-

furanone by synthesis of all eight stereoisomers.Many `Thermally Generated Flavours' in food are pro-

duced via theMaillard reaction and the study of simpler model

systems continues. Examples studied include ribose±cysteine,xylose-glycine, xylose±alanine, glucose±glycine, glucose±lysine, fructose±lysine and ascorbic acid with glycine, lysineand glutamic acid. Foods studied include co�ee (3 papers),

meat (3 papers) and leeks. Among the `Novel Methodsof Flavour Analysis' described are monodimensional chiralgas chromatography, tandemmass spectrometry and the use of

electronic noses. Methods of sample preparation were com-paredwith champagne extracts, tomatoes and breakfast cereal.Model experiments using pervaporation to recover aroma

compounds are described, as is the use of this techniqueto isolate S-methyl thiobutyrate from a Coryneform bacterialculture.

In `Sensory Methods in Flavour' the place of ¯avourchemistry in human chemical ecology is reviewed and it wasconcluded that `although chemical ecologies are functionally

# 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J., Vol. 13, 213±215 (1998)

214 BOOK REVIEWS

divergent, their chemical vocabulary is not'. Other sensorystudies consider cheddar and goat's cheese, salmon, whisky,wine and orange juice. The ¯avour contribution of ethanol is

also discussed, as is the lack of it in dealcoholized wine. Thecompounds responsible for the ¯avour of food are likely toreact with other food constituents and this binding is likely to

e�ect the release of ¯avour molecules. The problem has beenhow to monitor such release and the development of mem-branes which allow volatiles other than moisture and oxygeninto a mass spectrometer is replacing more laborious work

with Tenax traps, as illustrated with mint-¯avoured sweets,strawberries and tomatoes. Otherwise, model systems withheadspace analysis have been used to demonstrate that an

increase in fat (miglycol, para�n oil and ice cream), protein(casein, lactoglobulin and meat) and, to a lesser extent,carbohydrates (starch) reduce the release of volatile ¯avours,

as does an increase in the viscosity of a solution of volatiles.

The `Workshop on Current and Future Problems in FlavourResearch' focused on ¯avour deterioration during storage,key volatiles, the vocabulary for sensory descriptors and

standard stimuli, as well as the need for international coord-ination of ¯avour meetings. The two other workshops wereconcerned with electronic noses and the chemical nature of

naturalness. The author and subject indices increase the valueof these proceedings.This book well lives up to the standard set by earlier

Weurman symposia. Most readers of this Journal will ®nd

something of interest. In addition it provides the newcomer to¯avour research with an excellent up-to-date report on thestate of the art. The authors, editors and the Royal Society of

Chemistry are to be congratulated on the rapid publication ofthis valuable book.

ROGER STEVENS

Threlkeld, UK

# 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J., Vol. 13, 213±215 (1998)

BOOK REVIEWS 215