Study on Key Components Affecting the Taste Characteristics of Commercial Oyster Sauces

Abstract:

In order to identify the key components affecting the taste quality of oyster sauces, 15 commercially available products were analyzed in this study. With the aid of quantitative descriptive analyses, the differences in taste of oyster sauces were compared. The flavor peptides composition, amino acid nitrogen mass fraction as well as the composition and mass fraction of free amino acids and flavor nucleotides were examined. The correlation between taste and physicochemical indicators of oyster sauce was determined by partial least squares regression(PLSR) and Pearson's method. The results showed that the key components affecting the taste quality of oyster sauces included the mass fraction of amino acid nitrogen, inosine monophosphate, the composition of flavor peptides ,the mass fraction of glycine and glutamate. The amino acid nitrogen mass fraction(R=0.707) and the peptide with a relative molecular weight of 500~1 000 (R=0.681) showed a highly significant positive contribution to the sauce. A positive correlation was established between the oyster flavor and glycine mass fraction, while the freshness perception was impacted by the mass fraction of glutamate and inosine monophosphate. This study can provide scientific basis for the construction of an evaluation system for the taste quality of oyster sauce.