Sensomics-assisted Flavor Decoding of Coarse Cereal Huangjiu

Huangjiu is one of China's national alcoholic beverages. The key odorants in four coarse cereal Huangjius (CCH) were identified by sensomics approach. Eighty-eight odorants were identified using solvent-assisted flavor evaporation combined with gas chromatography-olfactometry/spectrometry and aroma extract dilution analysis. Four aroma recombinates showed good similarities to the corresponding original aroma profiles (93.27-96.97%). Partial least squares regression analysis predicted vanillin and β-damascenone were the main causes of the aroma differences in the four CCHs. For the first time, omission and addition tests showed that β-damascenone caused the sweet and tea leaf aromas, whereas hexanal, nonanal, and 2-methyl-3-(methyldisulfanyl)furan contributed to the cooked grain aroma. Finally, 2-phenylethanol, ethyl (E)-3-phenyl-2-propenoate, ethyl 3-phenylpropanoate, vanillin, 3-(methylsulfanyl)propanal, γ-nonalactone, sotolon, β-damascenone, hexanal, nonanal, and 2-methyl-3-(methyldisulfanyl)furan were confirmed as the key odorants in the CCHs. 2-Methyl-3-(methyldisulfanyl)furan was a newly identified key odorant in Huangjiu.