Changes in the aroma and key odorants from white garlic to black garlic using approaches of molecular sensory science: A review

Black garlic is a relatively new product that has become very popular in recent years. It is obtained by fermenting raw (white) garlic by the application of heat treatment. The undesirable pungent odor of the white garlic disappears and the black garlic product with a sweet-sour flavor is formed after various reactions during the applied heat process. As a result, black garlic is more preferred and easily consumed by the consumers compared to white garlic. This review aims to summarize the studies on the changes in the odorants during the heat treatment employed in the production of black garlic as well as the factors affecting the changes in the aroma and aroma-active compounds and the use of molecular sensory science (MSS) approach, which has been applied in recent years as a new method for the determination of the aroma compounds. This work revealed that the use of the MSS on the aroma changes in black garlic is quite limited in the literature. Thus, more studies are needed to understand the aroma changes that occur during the formation of black garlic from white garlic in more detail.