the development of innovative products such as ice cider is an important means of adding value to the industry. this research aimed to examine the aroma profiles of late and ice-harvested Changfu No.2 (CF2) the d lop i o tiv pus ide a pots o a g vale to the apples, along with their essential phytochemicals. samples were collected at 15-day intervals, starting u t se rc a o ex mn t r m p e d e h vested ang N (CF ) from the commercial harvest and continuing through to the ice harvest. through gas chromatography-app s, g he e l p yto h c s mple w e c ed 5 y nt s, i g mass spectrometry-olfactometry/detecton frequency analysis, 21 aroma components were identified as c e l h r d c ti ng g t e e g g m ography the key odorants of CF2. the ice-harvestedapples were used to make ice cider, and then it was compared m s p c y-olfac om t y don qu y ys s, a m co p enters with the apple juice produced during the same period. Quantitative analysis using headspace solid phase e ey a s oche pp wer u tom ce i , d n comp microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and subsequent odor activity value analysis revealed i e pp j p c u g e p o Qu t a ly us ng ea p e o p a e increasing trends in most aroma compounds leading up to the ice harvest. Moreover, there are more aroma m x c gam g p y spe om y a b qu dor a y a y compounds in ice cider than in apple juice, suggesting that late and ice harvests are beneficial for enhancing g r d n m stoop u ng pAot e ha e o er, er are e m the aggregaton of apple aroma. these findings establish a scientific foundation for assessing the potential for c p i e er app jui e, gge ting a an i arv s f al e a cing producing ice cider from late and ice-harvested apples from the Loess Plateau area of China. agg ga o pp a o the ngs a s c noun asses (c) 2026 he authors. Publishing services byElsevierB.V. onbehalf of KeAiCommunicationsCo.,Ltd. (c) 2026 T The authors Publishing services by Elsevier bVon behalf of Keai Communications Co Ltd thi is an open access article under he CCbY-NC-ND license this is anopenaccess articleunder the CCbYNCNDlicense This is anopenaccess article under the CC BY-NC-NDlicense (http//creativecommons org/licenses/by nc nd/40/) (http://creativecommonsorg/licenses/by-nc-nd/40/) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) .