The development of an aroma profile number for smoked meat and sausage products

The presented research concerns the aroma differentiation of sausage products that were smoked with different types of wood. The outcome of the sensory analysis by aroma wheel is expressed by an aroma profile number (APN). The specifically adapted aroma wheel clusters distinguish characteristics into main segments; an additionally added Q-value represents the quality impact of aroma. The typical "Delikatess-Leberwurst" was smoked by friction smoke, generated with beech, pine, spruce and larch woods. By using the aroma wheel individual flavour nuances can be highlighted. Furthermore, it was shown which attributes and values or combinations of characteristics positively or negatively influenced the flavour of the product. The applied method leads to the conclusion that smoke addition with spruce has the favourable aroma-profile and positively influences the quality of the sausage, followed by beech and larch. Pine did not recommend itself for smoking liverwurst.