Abstract: The volatile flavor compounds of 5 different brands of commercial dry yellow soybean sauces in Beijing were extracted by simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) method and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Totally 69 volatile compounds were identified, including 9 acids, 22 esters, 8 aldehydes, 4 ketones, 3 phenols, 13 herterocylic compounds and 3 sulfur-containing compounds. The common compounds appeared in all five dry yellow soybean sauces were ethyl acetate, ethyl hexadecanoate, ethyl 9-octadecenate, ethyl 9,12-octadecadienoate, ethyl (Z,Z,Z)-9,12,15- octadecatrienoate, 3-methyl butanal, benzeneacetaldehyde, 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, 3-(methylthio)-propanal, and furfural,1-(1H-pyrrol-2-yl)-ethanone. These compounds constituted the basic flavor of the five dry yellow soybean sauces, while other flavor compounds were responsible for the unique part of their flavor.

Key words: dry yellow soybean sauce, simultaneous distillation-extraction, gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS), flavor