Analysis of Flavor Characteristics of Commercial makgeolli

Abstract

Recently, as the interest in makgeolli has increased and its products have become more diverse, the need to analyze the flavor of makgeolli has emerged. In this study, we analyzed the volatile flavor components in commercial makgeolli using an electronic nose. Discrimination function analysis suggested differences in flavor characteristics of commercial makgeolli depending on sterilization and type of fermentation starter. According to the variable importance point scores determined by partial least squares-discriminant analysis, it was revealed that sterilization, nuruk, and yeast profoundly influence the contents of ethyl acetate (fruity scent), acetaldehyde (strong odor) and isoamyl acetate (fruity scent), respectively. This result is expected to be a valuable stepstone to the characterization of makgeolli.