Investigation of the volatile aroma components of garlic leaves essential oil. Possibility of utilization to enrich garlic bulb oil

Abstract

The volatile aroma components of Egyptian green garlic leaves essential oil was investigated for the first time. After the utilization of garlic bulbs to prepare garlic oil or after drying the bulbs to produce garlic powder, garlic leaves are considered to be waste material, which is disposed of without any benefit. In this investigation, green garlic leaves were distilled and the essential oil was subjected to GC and GC-MS identification. The yield of the oil was 0.06% (based on wet weight of the leaves). The most prominent compounds of the essential oil were diallyl trisulfide (32.32%), followed by diallyl disulfide (31.35%) and methyl allyl trisulfide (11.40%); these compounds are the same as those found in garlic bulb oil. This means that garlic leaf oil is a rich, renewable and priceless source of garlic aroma compounds which could be utilized in fortification and enriching of garlic bulb essential oil to increase its quantity without changing the quality. Utilization of green garlic leaves for production of essential oil will also save, to some extent, the costs of disposing of large amounts of leaves in garlic possessing factories, transforming them into profits.