Investigation on the Flavor Characterization of Edible Cooked Insect Clanis Bilineata Larva Products Using SPME-GC-TOF/MS, UHPLC-MS/MS Combined with Sensory Evaluation

Clanis Bilineata larva (CBL) is a unique Chinese insect delicacy in Jiangsu Province, which is known for its umami taste and high protein nutrition. To develop its desired flavor, the quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) combined with high throughput instruments were applied to analyze the sensory attributes and compounds of raw, boiled and roasted CBLs. Through QDA, cooked CBLs showed higher meaty odor intensities than Raw CBL significantly (p < 0.05). Compared with boiled CBL, the roasting process could generate the roasted meaty/beany odors and umami/savory taste while reducing the negative effects of grassy/boiled vegetable/earthy odors and bitter taste. Pearson correlation analyses results showed that meaty odor was highly correlated with compounds produced by fatty acid degradation such as hexanal and 1-octen-3-ol. Meanwhile, histidine was highly correlated with bitter and adenosine monophosphate was highly correlated with umami. The taste and odor of cooked CBLs are mainly formed from the lipid degradation, protein degradation and nucleotide degradation. This study provides insights to use a proper cooking process to develop consumer-friendly CBL products.