Flavor characteristic analysis of soymilk prepared by different soybean cultivars and establishment of evaluation method of soybean cultivars suitable for soymilk processing.

Flavor is an essential quality characteristics of soymilk, which contains volatile compounds derived from fatty acids via enzymatic and thermal reactions. In this study, 67 kinds of soybean cultivars were selected, and correlation analysis was conducted between physicochemical indexes of these soybean cultivars and flavor characteristic indexes of soymilk. With clustering analysis, all the soybean cultivars could be classified into three classes, and according to the results of principal component analysis for each class of soymilk flavor characteristics, the soymilk of second class had relatively heavier beany and non-beany flavor, and the third class had weaker flavor. For soybean cultivars of which the soymilk characteristics were unknown, two discriminant functions could be used to predict flavor characteristics if the physicochemical indexes were known. Therefore, screening of soybean cultivars suitable for soymilk processing can be targeted for the flavor favored by consumers and an evaluation method established.