[in Japanese]

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Domestic availability of industrial-grade Bacillus subtilis (natto) is limited to only three varieties of those suited for automated Itohiki-natto production, and scarcity of varieties of strains is causing difficulties in development of new varieties of Itohiki-natto. For that reason, we have been involved in research in distribution of Bacillus subtilis (natto) in the regions of Southeast Asian where the bacteria are in wide distribution. Available natto preparations include Chinese Douchi and Korean Chungkuk-Jang. In this connection, we have collected Douchi, isolated a new variety of the bacteria, and manufactured new Itohiki-natto. As the result, we have discovered Bacillus subtilis (natto) KFP843, which is expected to be capable of producing a new, soft variety of Itohiki-natto. We expect that this product may win a place in the diet of the aged who are experiencing difficulties in mastication or mastication and deglutition. In capillary gas chromatographic analysis of the marketed and Chungkuk-Jang smell, we have obtained 112 peaks. By means of GC-sniffing, we have identified ten compounds as the principal smell substances. Seven of the substances so identified are included among the constituents of the smell of the new, soft Itohiki-natto and further identified by means of microsolid-phase technique is some differences in concentrations of principal constituents among the marketed varieties.

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Soy sauce is said to have been brought to Japan in an ancient time from China. Once in Japan, before fermentation, use of an equal amount of wheat with soy beans was introduced and developed the Japanese soy sauce of superior aroma. Seasoning essential for Japanese cooking, soy sauce, which has served Japanese cuisine as its pillar for ages has now become ‘seasoning of the world’ and is helping introduction of Japanese cuisine throughout the world. Soy sauce has first become popular in the world as a premiere seasoning for meat dishes, but it can be expected to gain popularity as the best seasoning for fish in the midst of gaining importance of healthful foodstuffs.

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There are many kinds of narezushi, fermented fish with lot of rice around lake Biwa. Funazushi, the symbol of Lake Biwa's narezushi, is made from crucian carp and rice. Narezushi has strong smell and specific sour taste after fermentation. Many kinds of organic acid, alcohol, ester, aldehyde and ketone were produced by fermentation. The concentration of lactic acid showed the highest, about 2%.
We found 22 kinds of volatile compounds in funazushi, acetic acid, 1-butylic acid, ethanol, 2-phenylethanol, and ethyl lactate. Fermented funazushi rice showed antibiotic activities against Bacillus mesententericus and E coli.

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The aroma of green tea contains fresh and flowery notes, and roast notes. Fleshy and greenish odor notes represent the typical aroma of green tea. The fleshy and greenish aroma is composed of (Z)-3-hexenol, (E)-2-hexenol, nonanal and (Z)-3-hexenyl hexanoate. Japanese green teas are heated after production so that Japanese green tea has roast aroma. Roast aroma is produced by pyrazines. Such compounds are formed by action of heat on the free amino acids and sugars in tea leaves during drying. The most important roast aroma compounds of green tea is 2, 5-dimethylpyrazine. Monoterpene alcohols (linalool and geraniol, etc.) are known to be the major floral tea aroma constituents, especially oolong and black tea. These alcohols, which have flowery and fruity aromas, are liberated from glucosides which accumulate in tea shoots. Gyokuro and Ceremony tea have a special aroma, originally called the rice-straw smell because it is produced by shading tea plants with rice-straw. It has been shown that the Gyokuro odor is associated with dimethyl sulfide which is formed during processing by thermal degradation of S-metyl methionine.

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In describing characteristics of any wine, a variety of tasting terms are used to identify flavor of wines. Aromas of wine are classified into those deriving from the grape (premier aroma), those that appear in fermentation (secondary aroma) and those expressed in aging (bouquet), and comments on the derivation of the aromas that make reference to the vinification method are made. This study shows an explanation of the aromas of wine with Sommelier's tasting of wines backed by enological knowledge. Recent research on discovery of new aroma in Koshu wine (3MH) and cause of corky smell are introduced in this paper.

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It is generally believed that human beings acquired their food preference during the adaptation to their environments, and food preference is basically important for them to sustain their lives on the earth. Usually, human seek their foods by use of their five senses, and both senses of smell and taste which are also called as chemical senses, are specifically important owing to their contribution to the formation of food flavor. On the process of evolution, human beings began to utilize fire to cook various foods, and gradually obtained their acceptability to these cooked foods, and finally became the top of so-called food-chain. By heat processing, various components contained in food materials, such as raw meat or rice grain, react with other components to yield a variety of volatile compounds which are involved in the formation of aroma and flavor of cooked meat or rice.

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An addiction to a particular food denotes a state of very strong preference and a craving for the food. The representative brain substances such as β-endorphin, dopamine and orexin are released when we feel the food is delicious, want to eat it more and show actual feeding behavior, respectively. Dopamine activates the reward system in the brain which is known to be the neural substrate of drug addictions. Since these 3 substances interact with each other to facilitate their releases, the food addiction may reflect the state of over-releases of these substances to particular food items.

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