Identification of key differential compounds in different quality grades of base liquor during the production of Jiang-flavored baijiu

作者：Xueli Yang, Renyuan Chen, Junhai Wu, Fangqiang Yu, Fengmei Liao, Xiaobo Li, Yu Wang, Cheng Zhao, Hanren Zhang, Xinying Wu · 发表于：Food Chemistry X · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.fochx.2025.102331 · 被引用次数：8 · 研究领域：Fermentation and Sensory Analysis、Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities、Food Quality and Safety Studies

The production process of Jiang-flavored Baijiu is highly elaborate, and the flavor characteristics and quality of the base liquor (BL) exert a substantial impact on the quality of the final product. A total of 130 typical samples from three quality grades within seven fermentation rounds were examined. Based on sensory evaluation, gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) technology was employed to detect 59 principal volatile compounds within the samples. Subsequently, K-means clustering, partial least squares discriminant analysis, and odor activity values were combined to analyze the compound variation trends and key differentiating compounds. The results demonstrated that in the seven fermentation rounds, 10 key differentiating compounds significantly affect the BL quality; in each round, 6 compounds markedly influence the quality level. Among them, the contents of acetic acid, ethyl acetate, lactic acid, and acetaldehyde were correlated with the BL quality grade and have the potential to act as quality indicators. • K-means clustering visualized the trends of 59 volatile compounds during production. • VIP and OAV were combined to identify the key compounds with aroma contributions. • There were 10 compounds contributed to the flavor variation in base liquor production. • There were 6 key compounds affected the base liquor quality difference in each round. • Potential marker that may reflect the quality of base liquor were discovered.