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RESEARCH PRODUCT

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

subject

description

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 between long-life and homemade samples and Cu to separate Spanish and African tiger nuts. DA allowed the separation of the studied samples, obtaining a good accuracy by the re-substitution method of 100% for both, the origin of the tiger nut and the process of preparation. From the methodological point of view it is clear that DA treatment of mineral concentrations at part per million levels is an excellent tool for the control of the beverages prepared from tiger nuts grown in the Valencia area.