Abstract
Vinegar is a traditional fermented flavouring, which has been a commercial product for thousands of years. Ganoderma vinegar (GV), Astragalus vinegar (AV), and Winter jujube vinegar (WV) are new functional health vinegars. The study aimed to recognize and compare the volatile compounds (VOCs) and non-volatile compounds (NVCs) in these vinegars based on metabolomic fingerprint. A total of 2417 differentially accumulated metabolites were screened out, which were classified as 8 clustering patterns using K-means method. The relative contents of 1076, 884, 457 metabolites were highest in GV, AV, WV, respectively, indicating GV dominating the comparative profile. Most VOCs were correlated with sweet, followed by fruity, green, woody, floral, herbal, waxy, fresh, spicy, balsamic, nutty, apple. The characteristics of NVCs exhibited that GV was dominant, followed by AV and WV. The study provided reference for investigation of authenticity, quality and origin of vinegars, and contributed to medical treatment of vinegar.