Volatile flavor compounds and flavor profiles of thai soy sauce

Abstract

Soy sauce is fermented soybean condiment originally invented in China from the ancient time. Since this product has been spread widely in Asia, each region has developed its own recipe and fermenting process, leading to varieties of product flavor profiles. In this work, the volatile flavor compounds and their relationship with flavor profiles of Thai soy sauce were studied. As a result, 60 odor-active compounds have been characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-olfactometry. The odor activities of those compounds were further investigated by approaches of Aroma extract dilution analysis, Dynamic headspace dilution analysis, and Calculation of odor activity value. We concluded that 2-methyl propanal, 1-propanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, 2,6-dimethyl pyrazine, mathional, 3-methyl butanoic acid, 2-methoxyphenol, 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one, and 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone were key aroma compounds of Thai soy sauce. Apart from chemical analytic work, modified quantitative descriptive analysis of 18 Thai soy sauces was conducted to understand their flavor profiles. © 2010 American Chemical Society.