Lexicon development and quantitative descriptive analysis of Chinese steamed bread

Instrumental analysis showed that steamed breads made with Chinese traditional sourdoughs from different origins had different aroma components. However, the analysis of flavor characteristics of Chinese steamed breads (CSBs) using human olfactory perception was rarely reported. In this study, eleven CSBs made of different Chinese traditional sourdoughs were collected to develop a lexicon and a quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) method suitable for the sensory evaluation of CSBs. A terminology lexicon consisting of 14 flavor attributes (the odors of cellar, sweet, alkaline, sour aromatic, butyric acid, sourdough, overripe and yeasty; the tastes of sweet, sour and acetic acid; the after-tastes of bitter, sweet and sour) was developed by 11 trained panelists. The QDA method was conducted to evaluate the intensities of CSB flavor attributes. Cluster analysis indicated that eight CSBs were divided into four categories: CSBs made of Shangqiu, Tanghe and Xi'an sourdoughs had a unique property of sour, CSBs fermented by Heze and Zhenping sourdoughs had rich sensory attributes, CSBs made with Minqin, Taian, Zhumadian, Weinan and Nanyang sourdoughs had bland flavor, and CSB fermented by Angel yeast had a prominent characteristic of sweet. QDA method was accurate and applicable for analyzing flavor characteristics of CSB.