Flavor quality of Liriopis tuber tea that was made using a steaming process was studied by measuring changes in headspace volatile compounds. Headspace volatile compounds of the prepared samples were isolated, separated and identified by the combined system of purge & trap, automatic thermal desorber, gas chromatography, and mass selective detector. As steaming frequencies were increased, the area percent of aldehydes decreased from 32.01% to 3.39% at 1 and 9 steaming frequency times, respectively. However, furans and ketones increased from 18.67% to 33.86% and from 9.60% to 17.40% at 1 and 9 times, respectively. The savory flavor of Liriopis tuber tea was due to a decrease in aldehydes contributing a fresh flavor at the 1st steaming process and newly generated furans from nonenzymatic browning with repeated steaming frequencies. These results will provide basic information for quality control of the newly developed Liriopis tuber tea.
Keywords: Liriopis tuber tea; headspace volatile compound; steaming frequency.