posted on 2023-11-29, 01:20authored byJing Wu, Panchaonan Huang, Yunzi Feng, Chun Cui, Jucai Xu, Laihao Li
Previous studies have demonstrated that thermal processing
in the
presence of lactate and amino acids can produce taste-active N-lactoyl amino acids. This study aimed to investigate the
impact of lactate and thermal processing on the sensory characteristics
of acid-hydrolyzed vegetable proteins (aHVP). The results showed that
the processed aHVP exhibited enhanced kokumi, a milder
umami taste, and reduced bitterness on treatment with 1% lactate at
110 °C for 3 h or 3% lactate at 120 °C for 2 h compared
to the unprocessed samples. Partial or orthogonal least-squares discriminant
analysis and variable importance in projection (VIP) analyses revealed
the significant contributions of N-,l-Lac-l-hydrophobic AAs [-Met, -Ile, -Leu, -Val, and -Phe (VIP >
1.2)]
to the observed differences between the processed and unprocessed
samples. Electronic tongue analysis confirmed the sensory findings
and indicated a decrease in the aftertaste of bitterness in the processed
samples. Furthermore, the study identified the sensory characteristics
of N-l-Lac-l-Met, -Ile, and -Leu,
highlighting their potential to enhance salty, umami, and kokumi perception in simulated broth. Furthermore, the study
incorporated the addition of bitter amino acids (Val, Ile, Leu, Tyr,
Phe, Lys, His, and Arg) and the aforementioned N-l-Lac-l-AAs to aHVP, providing further evidence
for their contributions to bitterness and aftertaste-B as well as
the kokumi differences, respectively. This study
provides valuable insights into the sensory effects of lactate and
thermal processing on aHVP, facilitating the development of improved
taste-enhancing strategies.