Doenjang, which is a fermented soybean paste, has been widely used to improve the organoleptic quality of diverse traditional cuisines in Korea. Although volatiles can influence sensory perception during consumption of Doenjang, correlations between sensory characteristics and volatile compounds of Doenjang have not been clearly established. In this study, a non-targeted analysis, combining solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), was applied to investigate the relationship between sensory characteristics and volatile compounds of Doenjang. In addition, key volatile compounds of Doenjang correlating to the sensory attributes were determined using partial least squares (PLS) regression. The following 22 descriptors were developed to describe the sensory attributes of Doenjang: 11 odors (alcohol, soy sauce, roasted soybean, cooked soybean, fermented fish sauce, musty, Meju, sweet-grain, acetic acid, earthy), 8 flavors (soy sauce, roasted soybean, cooked soybean, fermented fish sauce, musty, Meju, earthy) and 5 tastes (sweet, salty, umami, bitter, sour). The specific volatile compounds such as 1-octen-3-ol, dimethyl disulfide, 3-methyl butanoic acid and butanoic acid were closely correlated with the fermented fish sauce, musty and Meju odor/flavor characteristics by the positive dimension of PLS component 1. On the other hand, maltol, trimethyl pyrazine, tetramethyl pyrazine and ethyl esters that were significantly associated with soy sauce and roasted soybean odor/flavor and sweet-grain odor attributes were identified by the negative dimension of PLS component 1. Further study will be conducted on consumer acceptability test to investigate volatile compounds as contributors, which could affect the liking and disliking of Doenjang.

Determination of key volatile compounds related to sensory quality of Doenjang, a fermented soybean paste, using non-targeted and descriptive analyses

256th National Meeting (2018)

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