Summary In this study, bitter‐tasting hydrophobic peptides were prepared and purified from soy sauce using aqueous ethanol solutions and ion exchange resin, and analysed using RP ‐ HPLC and UPLC ‐Q‐ TOF ‐ MS / MS . Most of bitter fraction from soy sauce was obtained by treatments involving 80% ethanol and subsequent chromatographic separation. This fraction contained sixteen small peptides (molecular weight < 1000 Da; rich in hydrophobic amino acids with Lys‐Pro ( KP ), Glu‐Phe ( EF ), Glu‐Val ( EV ), Asp‐Leu ( DL ), Leu‐Trp ( LW ) and Asp‐Pro ( DP )) capable of enhancing significantly ( P < 0.05) umaminess and/or imparting kokumi effect in taste reconstitution experiments. Thus, the bitter peptides affected bitterness as well as other taste sensations like umaminess, kokuminess and saltiness. This was the first study to report the impacts of the bitter‐tasting hydrophobic peptides on soy sauce and solutions of salt, monosodium l ‐glutamate.

BACKGROUND Two kinds of soy sauce produced via fermentation of the whole soybeans and the defatted soybeans (soy sauce termed 'SSS' and 'SSD', respectively) were subjected to the treatment using aqueous ethanol solutions with high concentrations. Then tasty peptides were separated from SSS and SSD by sensory guided fractionation, using macroporous resin and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), and identified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS). Results The result showed that umami-active fractions and <= 3 kDa peptides were mainly concentrated in the supernatants resulted from the treatment with 60% ethanol and the precipitates resulted from the treatment with 80% ethanol. The contents of ammonia nitrogen, non-salt solids, bitter amino acids, amino acids in peptides and the proportion of <= 3 kDa peptides in SSS were higher than those in SSD. Sixteen and fourteen tasty peptides were separated from SSS and SSD, among them five dipeptides (gamma-Glu-Glu, Glu-Glu, gamma-Glu-Cys, gamma-Glu-Leu, Glu-Leu and Ile-Glu) with a glutamic acid residue were identified both in SSS and SSD, which have been reported as umami/kokumi-active peptides in soy sauce. Several peptides identified from SSS (Thr-Gly-Cys, Gly-Leu-Glu, Val-Glu-Ala-Leu and Gly-Gly-Gly-Glu) and SSD (Asp-Arg, Asp-Ala-Glu, Glu-Val-Cys and Gly-Gly-Gly-Glu) are tasty and/or umami-active peptides but have not been reported as tasty peptides in the past. Conclusion Most of the peptides separated from SSD and SSS could impart an umami-enhancing effect on soy sauce, and the marginally more kokumi and bitterness hydrophobic peptides were found in SSS than SSD. (c) 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

This study investigated the effect of high solid concentrations on the enzymatic hydrolysis and antioxidant activities of soya bean protein isolate hydrolysates (SPIHs). The soya bean protein isolate at the concentration of 8%, 16%, 24% and 32% was hydrolysed to obtain SPIH with 21.5% degree of hydrolysis (DH), respectively. Results showed that, for the same DH, significant increases in reaction time and decrease in protein recovery were observed as solid concentrations increased. There was no significant difference in molecular weight distribution, but different amino acid compositions in supernatants of SPIH hydrolysed at different solid concentrations. The level of antioxidant amino acids in high solid concentration (32%) was higher than that in low solid concentration group, and antioxidant activity of SPIH increased with the solid concentration increased. Thus, increasing solid concentrations could increase the antioxidant activities and functional properties with low water costs.