Abstract: To clarify the taste differences between surimi products from different fish species and establish a taste fingerprint of surimi products, three species of marine fish (hairtail, red sea snapper, and golden thread) and three species of freshwater fish (silver carp, grass carp, and black carp) were used to produce surimi gels. The taste profiles of the gels were analyzed by an electronic tongue, high performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography, and a taste fingerprint of surimi was established by significance analysis of microarray (SAM), cluster analysis, and heatmap analysis. The results showed that the taste characteristics of the six surimi products were significantly different. Hairtail surimi contained high levels of glutamate (2.37 mg/100 g) and aspartic acid (1.32 mg/100 g). Golden thread surimi showed the lowest contents of glutamate and aspartic acid. In addition, grass carp surimi contained relatively high contents of proline (tasting sweet) and histidine (tasting bitter). The proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids in marine surimi was about twice as high as that in freshwater surimi. Among the freshwater surimi products, the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids was relatively higher in silver carp surimi. Compared with freshwater surimi, marine fish surimi had a higher content of betaine, inosine 5’-monophosphate (IMP) and guanosine 5’-monophosphate (GMP), and a lower content of hyperxanthine (Hx). Through SAM, a total of 46 differential substances were selected between the six surimi products, and the taste fingerprint constructed based on these differential substances by heatmap analysis could directly reflect the taste differences and major differential substances between freshwater and marine fish surimi.

Key words: freshwater fish; marine fish; surimi products; taste profile; taste fingerprint