Volatile Composition, Colour, and Sensory Quality of Spirit-Based Beverages Enriched with Medicinal Fungus Ganoderma lucidum and Herbal Extract

Abstract

SUMMARYThe multicomponent mixtures consisting of herbs and fungi are commonly used for the production of alcoholic beverages with potential health-promoting effects in many Asian countries. The medicinal fungus Ganoderma lucidum is one of the most important fungi used for spirit production. Although this fungus affects the aromatic complexity of spirits, only a small number of studies have focused on investigating the influence of G. lucidum on the aromatic profile and colour of spirits. The aim of the research is to evaluate the influence of adding G. lucidum and herbal extract on final concentrations of volatile compounds and sensory quality of several distillates. In this study, distillates (grain, plum, grape and wine) were used to produce new spirit-based beverages with the fungus G. lucidum only, or with the fungus and herbal extract. Fifty-nine aroma compounds were identified by GC-MS. The aromatic profiles were strongly influenced by the primary aromas of the distillates, but the addition of G. lucidum and herbal extract enriched the volatile fraction of distillates with a range of ethyl esters, with a fruity and floral fragrance. Higher alcohols, 1-propanol, 2-isobutanol and isoamyl alcohol, were the most abundant volatile compounds in the analyzed distillates and spirits. The lightness of distillates was from 60.7 to 63.6, and with the addition of Ganoderma it significantly decreased to the range from 43.6 to 50.5. The addition of the fungus also increased the intensity of red and yellow colours. The Ganoderma spirits scored very highly in sensory evaluation (17.6–18.3), significantly better than the spirits without any additions (16.1–16.9).

Evaluation of novel green walnut liqueur as a source of antioxidants: Multi-method approach

“…The spirits were presented to the judges monadically in random order. Overall sensory quality was assessed by evaluating five selected sensory characteristics: colour, clarity, distinction, odour (ortonasal olfaction) and flavour (Veljović et al 2019), which were rated using category scales with score ranges 0-1, 0-1, 0-2, 0-6 and 0-10, respectively. The overall quality score, with a maximum score of 20, was calculated by adding the quality scores of the five individual characteristics.…”

The Application of Ethanolic Ultrasonication to Ameliorate the Triterpenoid Content Extracted from Vietnamese Ganoderma lucidum with the Examination by Gas Chromatography

“…The result showed that in the extract a total of 12 compounds were identified as depicted in Table 3. Fatty acids included n‐hexadecanoic acid (4), cis‐vaccenic acid (8), and 6‐octadecenoic acid (7), and ester of fatty acids consisted of hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester (2), 9,12‐octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)‐, methyl ester (5), 8‐octadecenoic acid, methyl ester (6), 9‐octadecenoic acid (Z)‐, 2‐hydroxy‐1‐(hydroxymethyl)ethyl ester (9) were also found in previous studies [53,54] . In addition, terephthalic acid, 2‐ethylhexyl octyl ester (1) is usually used as plasticizer, which was also recorded in a previous study [55] .…”

Traditional and innovative aging technologies of distilled beverages: The influence on the quality and consumer preferences of aged spirit drinks

“…The production of spirits generally includes the fermentation of various agricultural products containing carbohydrates, a distillation of fermented mixture, aging, and blending (Awad et al, 2017). Besides aromatic compounds originating from raw materials, compounds composed during the aging process are important contributors to overall sensory quality, authenticity, and uniqueness of spirit drinks (Conner et al, 2003;Pecić et al, 2012b;Pecić, 2015;Śliwińska et al, 2015;Wiśniewska et al, 2016;Canas, 2017;Veljović et al, 2019a).…”