Determination of Characteristic Taste Compounds of Crayfish by 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Abstract

In order to investigate the nonvolatile taste-active components in crayfish, free amino acids, nucleotides, organic acids, soluble sugars and alkaloids in cooked crayfish muscle were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). Their taste activity values (TAVs) and equivalent umami concentration (EUC) were calculated to evaluate the key taste-active compounds and umami attributes, respectively. The results suggested that a total of 33 taste-active compounds were detected, among which arginine, histidine, glutamic acid, alanine, lysine, glycine, adenosine 5’-monophosphate (AMP), inosine 5’-mononucleotide (IMP), succinic acid and lactic acid were the key taste-active compounds with TAVs greater than 1.0, and they played an important role in the taste of crayfish. The EUC of crayfish was 9.1 g monosodium glutamate (MSG)/100 g, indicating very intense umami taste.

Keywords

• crayfish; 1h nuclear magnetic resonance; taste-active compounds; umami