Rapid differentiation of Chinese hop varieties (Humulus lupulus) using volatile fingerprinting by HS‐SPME‐GC–MS combined with multivariate statistical analysis

• Published in: Journal of the science of food and agriculture Vol. 98; no. 10; pp. 3758 - 3766
• Main Authors: Liu, Zechang, Wang, Liping, Liu, Yumei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 15.08.2018; John Wiley and Sons, Limited
• Subjects: Beer; Fingerprinting; Flavor; Flavors; Gas chromatography; Headspace; Hops; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Multivariate statistical analysis; Organic chemistry; potential variables; Principal components analysis; qualities; Similarity; Solid phase methods; Statistical analysis; Statistics; varieties; Volatile compounds; volatile fingerprinting; Volatiles
• ISSN: 0022-5142; 1097-0010
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.8889

BACKGROUND Hops impart flavor to beer, with the volatile components characterizing the various hop varieties and qualities. Fingerprinting, especially flavor fingerprinting, is often used to identify ‘flavor products’ because inconsistencies in the description of flavor may lead to an incorrect definition of beer quality. Compared to flavor fingerprinting, volatile fingerprinting is simpler and easier. RESULTS We performed volatile fingerprinting using head space‐solid phase micro‐extraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry combined with similarity analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) for evaluating and distinguishing between three major Chinese hops. Eighty‐four volatiles were identified, which were classified into seven categories. Volatile fingerprinting based on similarity analysis did not yield any obvious result. By contrast, hop varieties and qualities were identified using volatile fingerprinting based on PCA. The potential variables explained the variance in the three hop varieties. In addition, the dendrogram and principal component score plot described the differences and classifications of hops. CONCLUSION Volatile fingerprinting plus multivariate statistical analysis can rapidly differentiate between the different varieties and qualities of the three major Chinese hops. Furthermore, this method can be used as a reference in other fields. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry