Effect of substrate type on sensory characteristics and antioxidant capacity of sunflower Maillard reaction products

The sensory characteristics and antioxidant capacity of Maillard reaction products (MRPs) from two substrates namely sunflower free amino acid and peptides, xylose with and without cysteine model systems (AXC, AX, PXC and PX, respectively) were evaluated and compared. The model systems were heated at 120 °C for 2.0 h and a pH of 7.4. Results showed that AXC had greater meat-like flavour and umami taste, while PXC showed great mouthfulness and continuity taste, and AX and PX showed higher caramel-like flavour and bitter taste. The addition of cysteine was found to accelerate high molecular weight peptide degradation while suppressing low molecular weight cross-linking and colour formation in PXC and AXC. Furthermore, it was observed that sensory attributes of MRPs were not significantly affected by the peptides size. Results also showed that caramel-like flavour and bitter taste were significantly and positively correlated with furans and most of the nitrogen-containing compounds while these compounds had significant and negative impact on mouthfulness, continuity and meat-like flavour. Additionally, sulphur-containing compounds showed significant and positive influence on meat-like flavour, while PXC and PX showed higher antioxidant activities than AXC and AX. It can therefore be concluded that sunflower peptides MRPs can be a good precursor of flavour enhancers with high antioxidant activity, while sunflower free amino acid MRPs can be used to produce meat-like flavour enhancers.