A fast miniblender and commercially available Sep-pak filter cartridges have enabled sample preparation time of capsicum fruit for capsaicinoid analysis to be reduced from several hours to about 5 min. Sample purity is also greatly improved, with almost all the coloring matter and other lipid contaminants removed. The procedure gives a recovery of about 98%, and the results for capsaicinoids content are in agreement with more elaborate, time-consuming techniques. A typical extraction and HPLC analysis is about 25 min / sample. A simple rapid method for extraction of volatile compounds from an aqueous sample using a J&W liquid-liquid extractor is described. n-Pentane was the solvent used to extract the volatiles, and the extract was subjected to high-resolution gas-liquid chromatographic analysis without further concentration. Linalool and l-heptanol were used as model components. Average recoveries of 20 ± 2% and 5 ± 1% were obtained for linalool and l-heptanol, respectively. Addition of 5% NaCl to the aqueous sample increased the recovery of both linalool and l-heptanol to 30 ± 2% and 10 ± 2%, respectively.