Discovery of a Thiamine-Derived Taste Enhancer in Process Flavors

Targeted quantitation of 48 basic taste-active compounds in commercial meatlike process flavors, calculation of dose-overthreshold factors, and basic taste re-engineering, followed by activity-guided fractionation, revealed, next to l-glutamate and 5′-ribonucleotides, a series of N-acetylated amino acids and S-((4-amino-2-methylpyrimidin-5-yl)methyl)-l-cysteine as taste-modulating compounds. The N-acetylated amino acids imparted kokumi enhancement with rather high taste thresholds ranging up to 1800 μmol/L (N-acetylmethionine) in model broth. In comparison, S-((4-amino-2-methylpyrimidin-5-yl)methyl)-l-cysteine, found to be formed by a Maillard-type reaction of thiamine and cysteine, is reported for the first time to exhibit strong kokumi enhancement above a low threshold concentration of 120 μmol/L (model broth). These results will open new avenues toward a knowledge-based optimization of thiamine-containing process flavors.