Study on flavor components of pickled mustard dried by different methods

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry（ GC/MS） was used to analyze the flavor components of pickled mustard dried by different methods. 6 organic acids，16 esters，10 aldehydes，5 alcohols，6 ketones，4 heterocyclic and 6 hydrocarbon components were identified in microwave drying pickled mustard；3 organic acids，15 esters，7 aldehydes，4 alcohols，5 ketones，2 heterocyclic and 10 hydrocarbon components were identified in freeze drying pickled mustard. The results showed that，the percentages of esters among all the identified components were 45.28% and 28.9% in microwave drying and freeze drying pickled mustard，respectively. During the microwave drying process，oxidation and esterification of pickled mustard led to a severer brown stained effect，which damaged the color quality of final product. While，freeze drying process could protect heat-sensitive nutrients as well as flavor substances in pickled mustard. Compared to microwave drying process，better color quality and rehydration performance were achieved for final pickled mustard product by using freeze drying method.