Essential oils are usually colorless or pale yellow liquids with storing odor resembling the source plant materials. Analysis of the chemical compounds in banana has been carried out for the past 50 years.
Major compounds of banana fruits are acetates, butanoates, and/or 3-mthylbutyl esters.
Hultin and Proctor in 1961 have found the following substance in aqueous distillate of the banana: acetic acid, methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, 2’-hexenal, pentan-2-one and possibly isoamyl alcohol, isoamyl acetate and 2-octanone.
McCarthy (1963), from chromatographic analysis of banana found that the banana-like flavor is due to the amyl esters of acetic, propionic, and butyric acids.
The compounded essential oil used extensively in the preparation of banana liqueur results from the blending of amyl and benzyl acetate and amyl and ethyl butyrate: the mixture is rounded off by the addition of essential oil (orange, lemon) and vanillin.
Essential oil in banana
