Abstract: A trained sensory panel consisting of 10 judges was requested to masticate stewed pork with brown sauce, and boluses were collected at different stages of mastication for dynamically monitoring moisture, fat, sodium chloride, nucleotides, nucleotide degradation products and pH and detecting changes in the taste profile of the food boluses were measured during mastication and the changes in taste were monitored using an electronic tongue. The results obtained indicated that moisture content of boluses during mastication increased significantly, and fat content decreased continuously. Moisture and fat contents reached 55.65% and 19.40% at the swallowing point, respectively. There was no significant change in pH except during the early stage of mastication. The contents of sodium chloride and flavor-enhancing nucleotides gradually decreased during mastication but both of them were slightly elevated at the swallowing point, reaching 1.07% and 79.90 mg/100 g, respectively. Furthermore, the sodium chloride content of bolus was significantly negatively correlated with its pH, and there was a significantly negative correlation between flavor-enhancing nucleotide and fat contents. The electronic tongue analysis showed that the release of saltiness and umami during mastication of stewed pork with brown sauce increased first and then decreased, attaining the highest value at the middle and late stages.

Key words: bolus, stewed pork with brown sauce, mastication, saltiness, umami, release