Characterization of the key aroma compounds in pork soup stock by using an aroma extract dilution analysis.

The aroma extract dilution analysis of an extract prepared from pork stock and subsequent experiments led to the identification of 15 aroma-active compounds in the flavor dilution factor range of 64-2048. Omission experiments to select the most aroma-active compounds from the 15 odor compounds suggested acetol, octanoic acid, δ-decalactone, and decanoic acid as the main active compounds contributing to the aroma of pork stock. Aroma recombination, addition, and omission experiments of these four aroma compounds in taste-reconstituted pork stock showed that each compound had an individual aroma profile. A comparison of the overall aroma between this recombined mixture and pork stock showed strong similarity, suggesting that the key aroma compounds had been successfully identified.