Volatile and fatty acid profiles of raw and roasted pistachios (Pistacia vera L.) from different geographical origins: A preliminary study

The impact of roasting on the volatilomic and fatty acid profiles of pistachios ( Pistacia vera L.) from four geographical origins (Iran, Spain, the United States, and Turkey) was investigated using headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC–MS), gas chromatography–flame ionization detection (GC–FID), and multivariate chemometric analysis. A total of 52 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) belonging to seven chemical families were identified. Raw pistachios were dominated by terpenoids (67.7 ± 26.9% of the total volatilomic fraction), whereas roasting reduced their abundance by approximately 66% and promoted the formation of Maillard-derived compounds. Fatty acid analysis revealed that pistachio oils were dominated by oleic (C18:1) and linoleic (C18:2) acids, which together accounted for more than 85% of total fatty acids. Exploratory chemometric analysis discriminated pistachios according to their declared geographical origin, identifying terpenoids, Maillard-derived compounds, and palmitic acid (C16:0) as the potential discriminatory markers. These preliminary findings demonstrate that the integration of volatilomic and fatty acid profiles combined with multivariate analysis may provide a promising strategy for evaluating the impact of roasting and for differentiating pistachios according to geographical origin. Further studies involving a larger number of independent samples are required to validate its potential for geographical authentication.