Aroma Substances.pptVIP

7. Aroma Substances 7.1 Introduction The food quality not only includes nutrition, but also its color (appearance), mouth feeling (texture), smell and taste. English word “flavor” and Chinese “风味”can well describe those food qualities. German and some other languages do not have an adequate expression for such a broad and comprehensive term. Flavor results from compounds that divided into two broad classes: Those substances responsible for taste; Those substances responsible for odors. The substances responsible for odors are designated as aroma substances. However, some compounds can provide both sensations: taste and odors. Compounds responsible for taste are generally nonvolatile at lower temperature (60oC). They interact only with taste receptors located in taste buds of the tongue. The four (five?) important basic taste perceptions are sour, sweet, bitter, salty (and spicy or hot?). Aroma substances are volatile compounds which are perceived by the odor receptor sites of the smell organ, i.e. the olfactory tissues of nasal cavity. They reach the receptors when drawn in through the nose (nasal detection) via the throat after being released by chewing (retronasal detection) The concept of aroma substances, like that of taste ones, should be used loosely, since a compound might contribute to the typical, odor or taste of one food, while in another food it might cause a faulty odor or taste, or both, resulting in an off-flavor. The amount of volatile substances present in food is extremely low (ca. 10-15mg/kg). The aroma compounds comprise a large number of components. The foods made by thermal processes, alone (e.g. Coffee, baked sesame seeds and soybeans) or in combination with fermentation process (e.g. Bread, beer, cocoa, black tea), contain more than 500 volatile compounds. A great variety of compounds is often present in fruits and vegetables as well. 7.2 Threshold value The lowest concentration of a compound that is just enough for recognition o