Abstract
Quinoa is a full-nutrition food; however, its poor flavor and small size make it not the best food option for direct consumption. In this study, a quinoa snack (QS, a cake) was developed, and the aroma profile of the products was improved by adding jujube fruit powder (made from dried jujube fruits, from 5% to 30%). Gas chromatography mass spectrum (GC-MS) combined with electronic nose (e-nose) was applied for characterizing the aroma profiles of QS samples. Results showed a total of 26 aroma compounds were identified in QS samples by GC-MS, and 3-methylbutanol (from 1525 μg/kg in QS-30 to 3487 μg/kg in QS-0), ethanol (from 1126 μg/kg in QS-0 to 3581 μg/kg in QS-30), hexanal (from 125.6 μg/kg in QS-30 to 984.1 μg/kg in QS-0), and acetaldehyde (from 531.9 μg/kg in QS-30 to 191.1 μg/kg in QS-0) were common. The e-nose response of W1S (sensitive to methane, from 17.50 of QS-0 to 93.85 of QS-30) and W1W (sensitive to sulfur-organic compounds of e-nose, from 15.57 of QS-0 to 39.50 of QS-30) were significantly higher, and significant differences were presented among QS samples. In conclusion, the aroma profile of the QS sample was significantly (p < .05) enhanced by the addition of jujube powder, and QS-30 with the highest jujube content (30%) presented the strongest aroma profile. Moreover, QS samples with different additions of jujube powders could be well distinguished by principal component analysis (PCA), and the combination of e-nose and GC-MS was effective in the volatile profile analysis of QS samples.