Abstract: In order to explore the effect of different processing methods on the flavour of dried Ammodytes personatus, the volatile flavor compounds of dried fish produced by boiling in salt solution followed by cold air drying (SCC) or cold air drying (CD) were analyzed by electronic nose (E-nose), gas chromatography-ion mobility spectroscopy (GC-IMS), an automatic amino acid analyzer and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that there were significant differences in the smell and taste of dried A. personatus from different processing methods. Both E-nose and GC-IMS could distinguish the smell of the different samples. By GC-IMS we identified 68 volatile components, including heptanal, pentanal and 3-methylbutanal, having an important impact on the formation of the unique flavor of dried fish, and 3-methylbutanal was detected in the CD group but not in the SCC group. The major umami amino acid in dried A. personatus was Glu, and the major flavor nucleotide was inosine 5’-monophosphate (IMP). The contents of umami and sweet amino acids relative to the total free amino acids in the CD group were significantly higher than those in the SCC group. Additionally, the taste activity value and equivalent umami concentration in the CD group were also higher than those in the SCC group. Therefore, the flavor of dried A. personatus prepared by direct cold air drying was superior to that produced by boiling in salt solution followed by cold air drying .

Key words: dried Ammodytes personatus; processing methods; flavor; gas chromatography-ion mobility spectroscopy