Study On Flavor Characteristics And Material Basis Of Eight Kinds Of Dried Green And Red Huajiao With Geographical Indication

Huajiao(Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim)belong to the Zanthoxylum genus in the family Rutaceae.Its dry fruit peel has a unique aroma and pungency feeling.It is a common spice in China,which is often used in Sichuan cuisine.However,the quality of dried green and red huajiao on the market is uneven,affected by factors such as origins and species,and the key substances that cause different aroma and pungency characteristics have not been reported.Therefore,it is significant to study the aroma and pungency characteristics of huajiao from different geographical origins and its material basis.Owing to this,eight kinds of dried green and red huajiao with Chinese geographical indications were used as experimental materials in this study.The aroma and pungency characteristics of huajiao were analyzed by sensory analysis.Meanwhile,the composition and content of huajiao aroma and pungency substance were detected through a variety of instrumental analysis techniques.Then,partial least squares regression(PLSR)was used to explore the internal relationship between aroma and pungency characteristics and their respective material bases,and to determine the influence of each flavor substance on aroma and pungency characteristics.In order to provide experimental data and theoretical basis for quality monitoring and deep development of huajiao.The main research contents and results are as follows:(1)Aroma: The sensory analysis was made of the sensory analysis techniques flash profile(FP)and descriptive analysis(DA)).Meanwhile,by means of multiple instrumental analysis techniques(Electronic nose(E-nose),Gas chromatography-mass spectrography(GC-MS)and Gas chromatography-ion migration chromatography(GCIMS))were used to detect the content and composition of aroma substances in huajiao.Then,PLSR was used to explore the internal relationship between huajiao aroma characteristics and each aroma substance,and determine the influence of each aroma substance on aroma characteristics.The results showed that Qinan huajiao(ZB1),Wudu huajiao(ZB2),Hanyuan huajiao(ZB3)and Maowen huajiao(ZB5)have outstanding citrus,fruity,perfumery/floral,sweet aromatics,and brown.Hancheng huajiao(ZB4)has an obvious peppery and woody fragrance.The overall aroma intensity of the three kinds of green huajiao was higher than that of red huajiao,and the green,menthol,chive and other attributes were prominent.E-nose had limited effect on the identification of huajiao from different producing areas,and GC-IMS and GC-MS were suitable for the identification of huajiao from different producing areas.Linalool,linalyl acetate,Dlimonene and sabinene can be used as potential biomarkers for huajiao from different regions.PLSR showed that the contents of D-limonene,linalyl acetate,β-myrcene and other substances in huajiao were positively correlated with "citrus","fruity","brown","sweet aromatics" and "perfumery/floral".α-phellandrene,sabinene,α-pinene,1,8-cineole,α-terpinol,terpinolene and other substances may be responsible for the "fennel","peppery","eucalyptol" and "woody" properties of huajiao(especially ZB4).Linalool may have greater influence on the "green" intensity of huajiao.(2)Pungency: HPLC was used to quantitatively analyze the composition and content of pungent substances of huajiao,and temporal check-in All-That Apply(T-CATA)was used to analyze the characteristics of temporal changes in pungent sensation.At the same time,time-intensity(TI)was used to analyze the intensity of the key pungent sensation(tingling and numbing)of huajiao and the main pungent substance of huajiao with time.Then,PLSR was used to explore the internal relationship between the pungent characteristics of pungent substance and its molecular structure,and to determine the influence of each molecular structure on the pungent characteristics of pungent substance.The results showed that the cis-double bond was highly correlated with the intensity of pungent sensation.The length of hydroxyl and carbon chains were positively correlated with most parameters of TI curve.In addition,the weakening rate of tingling in red huajiao was generally lower than that in green huajiao because the content of hydroxy-γ-sanshool(HγSS)in red huajiao was higher than that in green huajiao.The tingling duration of HγSS was twice as long as hydroxy-α-sanshool(HαSS)at the same concentration.In addition,we also found that the numbing of huajiao was mainly provided by HαSS and HγSS,while hydroxy-β-sanshool(HβSS)and hydroxy-γ-isosanshool(HγISS)did not have numbing or tingling sensation.In conclusion,the aroma of dried green and red huajiao from different producing areas is different,the main reason is the composition and content of aroma substances in huajiao are different: the higher the content of linalool in dried huajiao,the stronger the green aroma may be;The higher the content of D-limonene and linalool acetate,the more significant the fruity and sweet aroma may be.The composition and content difference of HαSS and HγSS were the key factors for the difference of pungency in dried huajiao from different habitats.The higher the total content of HαSS and HγSS was,the faster the pungency was produced and the higher the intensity was.The larger the proportion of HγSS in total content,the longer the duration of pungency.Therefore,by studying the aroma and pungency characteristics of huajiao and its material basis,we can better understand the flavor characteristics of dried green and red huajiao from different origin and varieties,and provide theoretical basis for quality control and in-depth development of huajiao.