Abstract: In order to explore the difference in flavor substances of water-boiled roots of wild lotus and three different cultivars (‘Miancheng’, ‘Elian 5’and ‘Maojie’) in Hubei province, central China, lotus root dices were boiled in water for 30 min and investigated for their volatile compounds by headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS), electronic nose (E-nose), and sensory evaluation. A total of 38 volatile flavor compounds were detected by GC-MS, 8 of which were common to the 4 varieties. Aldehydes, furans, ketones, alcohols and ethers made prominent contributions to the flavor of lotus roots. Principal component analysis (PCA) could effectively distinguish these varieties. The results of electronic nose showed that there were significant differences in the flavor substances among the varieties, which were basically consistent with the results of SPME-GC-MS analysis. Sensory evaluation revealed that the wild lotus roots were mealy in texture and rich in flavor, which were more suitable for simmering soup on the basis of these data combined with GC-MS and electronic nose data. The results of this study provide useful data on flavor compounds for selecting suitable lotus cultivars for simmering soup.

Key words: lotus root; solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; electronic nose; flavor compounds