The common protocols for the quality determination of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), including herbs and spices (HSs), are the yield and composition of essential oils (EOs). Meanwhile, studies on the sensory quality of HSs showed that EOs composition does not translate to the profile of volatiles emitted from plants; therefore, they do not provide a background for sensory quality assessment. Thus, in this study, the differences in the composition of the EOs and the patterns of emission of unlimited (pure EOs) or limited (presence of a plant matrix) volatiles by headspace were measured for three chemotypes of mint, namely menthol, carvone, and linalool ones. The results have demonstrated that the presence of a plant matrix may change the contribution of main volatiles even up to 47 percentage points, what allows suggesting that EOs chemical analysis is not a reliable method for the determination of sensory quality of HSs.

药用和芳香植物 ( MAP ) 质量测定的常用方案，包括香草和香料 (HS)，是精油 ( EO ) 的产量和成分). 同时，对 HSs 感官质量的研究表明，EOs 的组成并不能转化为植物挥发物的分布；因此，它们不提供感官质量评估的背景。因此，在这项研究中，测量了薄荷的三种化学类型，即薄荷醇、香芹酮、和芳樟醇。结果表明，植物基质的存在可能会改变主要挥发物的贡献，甚至高达 47 个百分点，这表明 EO 化学分析并不是确定 HS 感官质量的可靠方法。