Analysis of Main Flavor Substances in Aging of Zhenjiang Aromatic Vinegar

To evaluate organic acid and nucleotide flavor characteristics for Zhenjiang aromatic vinegar, high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) and taste activity value(TAV) assay were used to analyze the changes of organic acid and nucleotide contents during the aging process of Zhenjiang aromatic vinegar from 0 to 8 years. The total organic acid content invinegar samples was about 95~114 g/L. Lactic acid and acetic acid are the main organic acids(>65%). The nucleotide content was about 367~532 mg/L in which CMP and GMP(>75%) occupy the majority. The total amount of protein and amino acid were basically stable during the aging process. The protein content was 20~27 g/L and the amino acid content was 1.5~2.5 g/L. TAV analysis showed that acetic acid had the strongest TAV for acid feeling, followed by malic acid, tartaric acid and succinic acid. In nucleotides, only GMP had obviously fresh effect, but its TAV was weaker than that of succinic acid. The principal component analysis showed that the aging time was closely related to the quality of Zhenjiang aromatic vinegar.