Characteristics of microbial community, taste, aroma of high-salt liquid-state secondary fortified fermented soy sauce

Abstract

The secondary fortified fermentation (SFF) process was designed based on the primary fermentation (PF) process to improve the flavor and quality of brewed soy sauce and to obtain the changes of fermentation flora information. Physicochemical indicators of SFF soy sauce were better than PF soy sauce, and the ammonia-nitrogen (AN) content reached 13.53 g/L, breaking the bottleneck of that in PF. With the substantial increase in the content of umami, sweet and bitter free amino acids (FAAs), SFF soy sauce has a better taste than PF soy sauce. GC-MS analysis showed that the content and types of volatile flavor compounds (VFCs) in SFF soy sauce were greater than those in PF soy sauce, resulting in a richer aroma. The characteristics of microbial community and correlation analysis showed that SFF process can amplify the effect of the beneficial flavor bacteria on the basis of PF, which had positive significance for improving the flavor of soy sauce and evolving beneficial fermentation flora.