Methods for extracting the taste compounds from water soluble extract of Jinhua ham

The main taste compounds of the water-soluble extract (WSE) of dry-cured ham are free amino acids (FAAs) and small peptides. At present there are many extraction methods for the WSE with pure water, HCl-ethanol, ethanol, alkaline and boiled water as solvent. These methods were studied on the basis of the extraction of FAAs, recovery of peptides and the volatile compounds as the index. Results showed the WSE of Jinhua ham extracted using pure water, had the highest percentage (19.57%) of the peptides with molecular weight of 200-300 Da. Most importantly it had the most similar taste characteristics to the raw ham during the sensory evaluation; with salt and sweet taste. In addition, the recovery of peptides was high (36.11%), though the alkaline method was much more effective for extraction (37.05%), the astringent taste dominated during the sensory evaluation. Otherwise, from the viewpoint of FAAs, we could see they mainly provide the umami taste. Considering the interactions between taste compounds and the aroma compounds, the latter obtained using the five methods were identified and significant differences were noted.