The effect of enzymatic hydrolysis on the flavor improvement of chicken broth by characterizing key taste and odor-active compounds

The flavor of chicken broth is composed of taste and odor, both of which are important indicators of edible quality. As a common meat processing technology, enzymatic hydrolysis appears as an effective way to improve the flavor of chicken broth. But up to now, the corresponding improvement mechanism has not been fully clarified. In this study, various chicken broth products were prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis of Papain (PAP), Flavourzyme (FLA) and Protamex (PRO). Then the samples with relatively better sensory performance including PAP-1.5-0.5, FLA-0.5-1.0, PRO-2.0-0.5 were selected and subjected to flavor compounds analysis. In terms of non-volatile taste-active compounds, glutamic acid (Glu) and 5′-guanosine monophosphate (5′-GMP) were the main taste contributors, their content and equivalent umami concentration (EUC) value were higher in PAP-1.5-0.5 and PRO-2.0-0.5. Regarding volatile odor-active compounds, (E, E)-2,4-decadienal with the highest variable importance (VIP) and odor activity value (OAV) was identified as the most critical odorant, and its content was higher in PRO-2.0-0.5 (41961.49 ± 507.78 μg/L) compared to other samples. Taking all factors into consideration, PRO-2.0-0.5 was regarded as the most ideal chicken broth product, which demonstrated the excellent improvement effect of enzymatic hydrolysis on the flavor of chicken broth.