Flavor notes derived from Maillard reaction of glucose with individual amino acids

Kam Huey Wong , Suraini Abdul Aziz , and Suhaila Mohamed at Universiti Putra, Malaysia reported in International Journal of Food Science and Technology Vol 43-Issue 9, Sept 2008 that individual amino acids can be used to generate specific flavor note through Maillard reaction with glucose.

The reaction condition used for all the reaction experiments:

Glucose monohydrate 10 mmol
Individual amino acid: 3.3 mmol
in 20 ml water.
PH for each reaction varied depending upon the amino acid and experimental design.
The reaction solution was heated at various temperatures for a various period of time.

Reacted solutions were evaluated against standard flavorings (bouillon, meaty, soy sauce, smoky, malty, caramel, beany, chicken, fruity, pandan, vanilla, seafood, chocolate, coffee, buttery to characterize flavor note in each reaction solution.

Taste of a reaction solution was evaluated against solutions of pure chemicals: Sweet (sucrose), sour (citric acid), salty(sodium chloride), bitter (caffeine), and umami (monosodium glutamate or MSG. (Note flavorists may use different chemicals to characterize the taste.

Study findings

Color and odor of Maillard products of amino acids and glucose formed after heating for 14 and/or 24 h at original pH

Color and odor of Maillard products of amino acids and glucose formed after heating for 14 and/or 24 h at original pH

Color and odor of Maillard products of amino acids and glucose formed after heating for 24 h at starting pH 5.2 and controlled at pH 5.2 ± 0.1 conditions

Color and odor of Maillard products of amino acids and glucose formed after heating for 1 h in the presence of 6 m HCl (pH < 0.1)

Comparison of color and odor of Maillard products of amino acids and glucose heated and maintained at pH 5.2 ± 0.1 served at room temperature and 60 °C

Those who are interested in details may download a FTP file of the report.