EVALUATION OF NON-VOLATILE KEY TASTE COMPOUNDS OF AIR-DRIED HERRING (Clupea pallasii) FILLET

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to quantify the non-volatile key taste compounds, including free amino acids (FAAs), nucleotides, inorganic ions, organic acids, and bases of dried herring (Clupea pallassi) fillet (DHF). A taste recombinant was also prepared using those key taste compounds to compare the taste profiles with water soluble extracts (WSE) by sensory perception. The total FAA of DHF muscle was 12.25 mg/g on dry matter basis. The most dominant FAAs were alanine, glycine, lysine, and histidine. The nucleotides were identified as 5´-adenosine monophosphate (AMP) (1.74 mg/100 g) and 5´-inosine monophosphate (IMP) (5.28 mg/100 g). Potassium, phosphate, and chloride were the major inorganic ions while trimethylamine oxide, creatine, and lactic acid were the major organic bases. Sensory evaluation showed that WSE markedly increased the intensities of umami, mouthfulness, thickness, and taste continuity of Japanese noodle soup (JNS). However, addition of taste recombinant to the JNS did not bring any changes in the taste intensities of saltiness, umami, mouthfulness, taste continuity, and thickness of the soup. Results of this study indicated that the taste recombinant was lacking of some important key taste compounds that might be formed during drying of herring fillet.