Comparison of Headspace and Distillation Techniques for Soy Sauce Aroma in Relation to Analysis by Silica Capillary Gas Chromatography and Sensory Evaluation

Abstract

A method has been applied to the collection of headspace volatiles from soy sauce at room temperature, using Tenax GC adsorption polymer. Concentrated volatiles obtained from fifty soy sauce samples consisting of genuine- and semi-fermented types using Tenax GC and distillation-extraction methods were analyzed by silica capillary GC analysis in order to compare the suitability to sensory data. From a multiple regression analysis, close relationships between two variously transformed GC data sets and sensory data were found, the square root transformation of peak area from the headspace GC data being the best amongst them. The precise extraction of characteristics contained in the sample volatiles, using either of the two aroma collecting methods, was confirmed by cluster analysis. © 1982, Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry. All rights reserved.