The flavoring volatiles of roasted laver which is a characteristic Japanese food, have been studied gas chromatographically.
About forty peaks have been found from the head space vapor (H. S. V.) of freshly roasted laver. These peaks almost disappeared when the laver was allowed to stand for two minutes at room temperature. When hot water was added, the H. S. V.-gas chromatogram of the laver again revealed about forty peaks, however, the pattern of the gas chromatogram and the peak intensities were different from those of freshly roasted laver.
Carbonyls, bases and sulfur-containing substances seemed to be important volatiles of roasted laver. Of the fourteen carbonyls detected from the roasted laver, seven carbonyls have been identified.