# Black Truffle Aroma Evaluation: SPME-GC-MS vs. Sensory Experts
## 4 Conclusions  
A black truffle (_Tuber melanosporum_) aroma evaluation was carried out using a chromatographic technique and sensory evaluation by a trained panel with similar results. Both techniques were able to separate truffles depending on the harvesting time (December, January, or February). The truffle VOCs profile showed slight differences among the seasons, reporting a higher amount of 1-octen-3-ol, hexanal, and 3-methyl-butanal at the start of the season, whereas dimethyl sulfide, 2-methyl-butanol, 2-methyl-propanol, and 2-butanone, among others, showed the highest percentages at the mid-end season. Two different truffle aromatic profiles were distinguished by the trained panel: (1) one with sulfur, black olives, and butter aromatic notes and (2) one with mushroom and leather aromas. The 69 volatile organic compounds detected were related to the following eight sensory attributes: sulfur, black olives, mushroom, leather, butter, fermentation, nuts, and straw. The use of analytical standards of the aromatic molecules related would provide help for sensory training as well as more objective truffle aroma evaluations. The results obtained in this study are the bases to develop an aromatic kit, like the existing wine or beer aromatic kits, for experts training.  
**Supplementary Materials:** The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13060837/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13060837/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13060837/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13060837/s1)), Figure S1: Tucker-1 plot for attributes: (A) sulfur; (B) black olives; (C) mushroom; (D) leather. Samples correspond to those truffles used for training (more data shown in Figure 3). The points outside the circumference do not explain 100% of the data variance for the attribute model. Table S1: Attributes selected for visual phase in the sensory analysis. Values (low, medium, high) correspond to 1, 5, and 9 in a 9-point scale. Table S2: Correlation and \(p\) value values corresponding to Figure 2C. Table S3: VOCs odor and the possible relation with the sensory attributes.  
**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, E.T.-C. and P.M.; methodology, E.T.-C. and M.A.S.; software, S.G.-B.; validation, E.T.-C. and M.A.S.; formal analysis, E.T.-C. and M.A.S.; investigation, E.T.-C.  
and M.A.S.; resources, P.M.; data curation, S.G.-B. and S.S.; writing--original draft preparation, E.T.-C.; writing--review and editing, S.G.-B. and S.S.; visualization, E.T.-C. and S.G.-B.; supervision, S.S. and P.M.; project administration, P.M.; funding acquisition, S.S. and P.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was funded by the European Union under \"Horizon 2020--the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation\" (2014-2020) and the grant agreement of the project \"Innovation in truffle cultivation, preservation, processing and wild truffle resources management\", INTACT, project number 101007623.  
Not applicable.  
Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.  
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Materials, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.  
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.