Unraveling the generation mechanism of volatile compounds in intermittent microwave‐dried anchovies via HS‐GC‐IMS and MMSE‐GC‐MS

The mechanism of aroma formation in anchovies via various intermittent microwave drying counts were revealed by the associated variations of flavor precursors compounds and volatile compounds. Variations in the structure of flavor precursors were compared with multidimensional infrared spectroscopy (MM-IR), revealing that the structure of fatty acid compounds exhibited notable transformations via different drying counts. Anchovies via different drying counts presented similar fatty acid and volatile compound compositions, whereas greater discrepancies were observed in the concentration. There are 127 and 45 volatile compounds identified by monolithic material sorptive extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (MMSE-GC-MS) and headspace gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS), respectively. Two-dimensional network modeling revealed strong positive correlations between C16:0, C21:0, C17:1, C18:2n6c, C18:3n6, and C22:1n9 with straight-chain aldehydes, aromatic aldehydes, and aromatic compounds. This study systematically revealed the correlation between fatty acids and volatile compounds in anchovies at different intermittent drying counts, and provided theoretical underpinnings for the application of dried anchovy products in industry.