Authentication of the protected designation of origin horchata de Valencia through the chemometric treatment of mineral content

Spanish horchata de chufa samples were authenticated based on the determination of mineral elements by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) combined with different chemometric methods. The ability of multivariate analysis, such as principle components analysis (PCA), classification and regression trees (CARTs) and discriminant analysis (DA) were evaluated in order to achieve a correct sample classification. It was possible to clearly differentiate homemade and long-life commercial samples by all three methods and CART and DA provided an excellent tool to establish the growth origin of the tiger nuts. CART analysis employed the concentration of Mg to discriminate…