Volatile Compounds Analysis and Off-Flavors Removing of Porcupine Liver

Abstract

Porcupine liver was an important source of protein, fat, and vitamins, and was of high economic and food value. But its stronger off-flavor which occurred during cooking was an impediment to consumption of liver products. In this study, the volatile compounds of porcupine liver were analyzed by headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results showed that hexanal (grassy), (Z)-2-heptenal (fishy), (E)-2-octenal (cardboard-like), 1-octen-3-one (metallic), and 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom-like) were responsible for the off-flavors of porcupine liver. The effects of removing off-flavors were compared by embedding with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and fermentation with yeast. Results indicated that fermentation with yeast was better and both the number and area ratio of volatile compounds in porcupine liver decreased with the addition of yeast. Taken together, the off-flavors of porcupine liver were removed by fermentation with the yeast effectively.