Abstract: Chicken meat was hydrolyzed by Alcalase to explore the changes of taste composition in the process of hydrolysis. Free amino acid and soluble nitrogen content kept on increasing at a different rate during hydrolysis. Peptide content increased in the first 16h, but decreased gradually thereafter. Composition and content of umami /sweet and bitter taste amino acids exerted great influence on the final taste of chicken hydrolysates. Carbohydrates in hydrolysates reached a peak in the first 2h, then decreased thereafter as a whole. Carbohydrates played a small role in the flavor of hydrolysates due to low content, but were of importance to the appearance of hydrolysates. pH decreased dramatically in the first twenty minutes, then fell gradually until it nearly remained unchanged, which demonstrated that the buffer capacity of hydrolysates was increased.

Key words: chicken meat, taste composition, enzymatic hydrolysis