Volatile compounds in pressed ewes' milk cheese with saffron spice (Crocus sativus L.)

Saffron spice has been successfully used as an ingredient in dairy products as a means of diversification. The objective of this work was to determine the influence of saffron on the volatiles' profile of a pressed ewes' milk cheese. This was performed by means of a modern extraction technique based on headspace sorptive extraction. Results showed that safranal was the only volatile that could be identified and quantified from saffron spice. Most volatile compounds were present in all cheeses but at different concentrations. Differences between control and saffron cheeses were observed, but as ripening time increased, these differences were less evident.