Flavor characteristics of peanut butter pretreated by radio frequency heating, explosion puffing, microwave, and oven heating.

Currently, the effect of different pretreatments (i.e., radio frequency (RF), explosion puffing (EP), microwave (MW) and oven heating (OH)) on the flavor characteristics of peanut butter is unclear. Consequently, this study identified volatile aroma and non-volatile taste using HS-SPME/GC-MS combined with the use of an electronic nose, electronic tongue, and sniffing. 53 volatile compounds in four peanut butters were identified, MW-treated samples exhibited the most aroma-active compounds (43), followed by samples treated using OH (42), EP (38) and RF (21). Different pretreatment resulted in significant flavor differences in the aroma and taste. The peanut butter under MW pretreatment had a strongest nutty notes among the treatments. RF methods yielded smaller particle sizes and better texture compared to conventional OH. However, instantaneous heating using EP did not result in improvements to the aroma or taste. A combination of MW and RF may improve the flavor quality of peanut butter.