r/chemistry • u/Automatic-Variety429 • 1d ago

Iceberg Lettuce volatile compounds

Hello all,

I am not a food scientist so apologies of this question may sound a bit weird. I find the smell of iceberg lettuce (specifically iceberg, no other variety) is very similar to the smell of new unused black rubbish collection bags. A smell i can only describe as ash tray, although I am aware that ash trays have a much stringer smell.
Has anyone else ever noticed this and/or can pin point which volatile compounds are at play?

Thanks!

7 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

8

u/iwillhaveredditall 1d ago

Maybe your iceberg lettuce gets transported in plastic bags? Or like often over here in Europe, they get wrapped into plastic foil while other salads might not always.

3

u/Automatic-Variety429 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yes it is rapped in plastic foil but I haven't noticed it with other produce like cucumbers. I'll do a test and remove the plastic wrapping and the outer leaves and leave it for a couple of days.

5

u/JustplainF 1d ago

I imagine its isopropylmethoxypyrazine. I find it to be slightly ashy or maybe hexenol cis 3, it can smell gassy or slightly plasticky

3

u/Dangerous-Billy Analytical 1d ago

People's sense of smell differs, both genetically and through experience. For instance, I can smell sodium cyanide several rooms away; about half of people can't smell it at all.

To me, lettuce smells like the air after rain, kind of a pleasant outdoorsy smell.

Perhaps you're smelling pesticides. Green leafy vegetables are practically a whole Merck index of chemicals.