Volatile Flavor Constituents of Cooked Oyster Sauce Prepared from Individually Quick-frozen Oyster Crassostrea gigas Extract

Abstract

The pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas has a desirable taste and flavor that differs from those of other fish and shellfish. In order to develop a high value-added product from individually quick-frozen oyster extract (IQFOE), we prepared an oyster sauce from IQFOE and characterized its volatile compounds using vacuum simultaneous steam distillationsolvent extraction / gas chromatography / mass spectrometry. The moisture, crude protein, crude ash, salinity, pH and volatile basic nitrogen contents of the oyster sauce were 60.6%, 8.2%, 9.2%, 9.3%, 5.7 and 21.0 mg/100 g, respectively. Seventy-six volatile compounds were detected in the cooked odor of the oyster sauce. These volatile compounds included 14 esters, including ethyl acetate, 13 nitrogen-containing compounds, including 2,4,6-trimethyl pyridine, 13 acids, including hexadecanoic acid, 12 alcohols, including ethyl alcohol and 6-methyl heptanol, 6 alkanes, 5 aldehydes, including benzaldehyde, 5 ketones, including 1-(2-furanyl)-ethanone, 4 furans, including 2-furancarboxaldehyde and 2-furanmethanol, 3 aromatic compounds, including d-limonene, and 1 miscellaneous compound. Esters, acids and nitrogen-containing compounds, and alcohols were the most abundant compounds in the odor of the cooked oyster sauce, with some aldehydes, ketones, and furans.