Flavor Chemistry in Baijiu with Sesame Flavor: A Review

Sesame-flavor baijiu (SFB), produced since 1960s, is a clear and transparent fermented alcoholic beverage and a well-known distilled spirit in northern China. It can be divided into four flavor styles: pure sesame flavor, sesame flavor mixed with strong aroma, sesame flavor mixed with light aroma, and sesame flavor mixed with Jiang aroma. This chapter summarizes this baijiu' s production process, presents recent developments and studies on its flavor chemistry, and discusses the questions in flavor chemistry. More than 463 volatile compounds, including esters, alcohols, ketones, heterocycles, nitrogenous compounds, acids, aldehydes, terpenes, sulfur compounds, acetals, and lactones, were detected in SFB. Among them, 140 aroma-active compounds were identified as important odorants for developing the flavor of SFB, such as ethyl hexanoate, ethyl pentanoate, ethyl butanoate, ethyl acetate, 1-propanol, 1-butanol, 3-methy- 1-butanol, acetic acid, butanoic acid, hexanoic acid, 3-methylbutanal, benzeneacetaldehyde, 2-furyl-methanal, diethyl acetal, 4-methylphenol, 3-(methylthio)propanal, dimethyl trisulfide, 2-ethyl-5-methylpyrazine, and 2-ethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazine. Furthermore, the development trends and future research directions for baijiu with sesame flavor are also discussed and proposed.