Effects of long-chain fatty acid ethyl esters on the quality of different Baijiu distillate stages by multivariate metrology combined with molecular sensoromics

The distribution characteristics of 5 representative long-chain fatty acid ethyl esters (LCFAEEs) in distillate process were analyzed by means of molecular sensoromics and multivariate metrology. Sensory evaluation experiments were conducted on the sample groups from four dimensions of vision, smell, taste and post-drink evaluation, and the corresponding relationship between LCFAEEs and the quality of different Baijiu distillate stages was clarified. The results showed that there were significant differences in the contents distribution of LCFAEEs in different distillate stages (P<0.05), and the LCFAEEs content showed a decreasing trend with the distillate process. The total LCFAEEs contents in the first stage of distillate was the highest, with an average value of 5.77 mg/L, among them, the ethyl palmitate (EP) content was the highest, with an average value of 1.77 mg/L. The total LCFAEEs contents in the last stage of distillate was the lowest, with an average value of 0.75 mg/L. Combined with the perception analysis of liquor body, the total LCFAEEs contents had a significant influence on Baijiu quality (P<0.01), in particular, it had a significant positive correlation with fruit aroma, floral aroma, smoothness and liquor body style (P<0.01, R>0.8), and a significant negative correlation with sour, alcoholic and miscellaneous taste of liquor (P<0.01, R<-0.8). The addition of ethyl hexadecate (EP) brought more fruity and floral flavor to Baijiu, and improved the sweetness and softness of the taste. This study provided data support for the mining of key quality factors and process optimization.