Recent advances on mulberry volatile flavor: A review

The consumption of mulberries (Morus spp.) as functional foods has been on the rise due to their wholesome properties, delicate taste, and unique flavor. The volatile flavor is an important characteristic, which has a significant impact on consumer acceptance. However, mulberries are not tolerant to storage, and their flavor is easily affected by postharvest factors. Therefore, maintaining and regulating them is a challenging issue in the industry. In this review, we reported aroma compounds, analytical methods, and affecting factors for mulberry volatile flavor, taking into account both preharvest and postharvest factors. Specifically, the formation pathways, odor description, and threshold of key aroma was described in detail. Overall, fatty acids and amino acids are the main sources of the aroma compounds in mulberry. Aldehydes and esters are the most important components that contribute to the overall characteristics. Sulfur compounds also make significant contributions to the aroma quality. High hydrostatic pressure, fermentation, enzymatic treatment, and ethanol vapor releasing sachet can improve the activity of lipoxygenases or alcohol acyltransferases and acetyl-coenzyme A, increasing the content of aldehydes or esters and enhancing the attributes related to "green" or "fruit".