Institution of Fingerprint of Amino Acids of Table Vinegar and Its Application to Characterization of Table Vinegar

Amino acids in 4 kinds of table vinegar, i.e., aromatic vinegar and apple vinegar (prepared by liquid-state fermentation), rice vinegar (prepared by solid-state fermentation) and blended vinegar, were determined by the automatic amino acid analyzer. Values of peak area ratios of the amino acids were calculated, and aided by the software of SPSS, fingerprint of amino acids in table vinegar was instituted, and furthermore clustering analysis was applied. Contents of amino acids found were in the ranges of 0.80-1.99 g·L-1 for aromatic vinegar, 0.01-0.98 g·L-1 for apple vinegar and 2.79-10.74 g·L-1 for rice vinegar, while no amino acid was found in blended vinegar. Aromatic vinegar could be distinguished effectively from blended vinegar by using the fingerprint and vinegar with same origin could also be identified. Various kinds of vinegar prepared by different fermentation methods, or with different raw materials, or obtained from different producing areas, could be properly identified by using the clustering analysis.