Changes in the chemical composition of traditional Chinese‐type soy sauce at different stages of manufacture and its relation to taste

Chemical composition of traditional Chinese‐type soy sauce (TCSS) at different stages of manufacture (moromi fermentation and pasteurisation) were analysed. Results showed that total nitrogen, formaldehyde nitrogen, total titratable acid, reducing sugar, NaCl, water soluble peptides, free amino acids (FAAs) and Maillard reaction products in TCSS changed significantly during manufacture. Most of FAAs were released during initial stage (0–15 days) of moromi fermentation, peptides (1–5 kDa) kept dominant (69.34–80.88%) among all peptides during manufacture and Maillard reaction products increased progressively during moromi fermentation and increased sharply during pasteurisation. According to hierarchical cluster analysis and sensory evaluation, there were obvious correlation between FAAs and sensory score of over‐all in TCSS during manufacture, which indicated that balanced FAAs composition might be mainly responsible for the taste formation of TCSS. Besides, pasteurisation can further improve the over‐all taste of TCSS.