Analysis of Free Sugar` and Free Amino Acid from Gochujang Produced from Korean Small Farms

This study investigated the free sugar and free amino acids considered as the taste component in Korean Gochujang. Our goal was to search and develop the Korean traditional Gochujang taste, and to monitor the current status and characteristics of the Gochujang. For the analysis of Gochujang, it is purchased from small farms as well as major food company producing Gochujang . In the case of commercial Gochujang(COM), glucose and maltose were major free sugar, and the ratio of distribution and total amount showed very similar pattern. However, the results of the traditional Gochujang(TG) showed significant differences for each sample even they had glucose and maltose as predominant sugar. The content of glucose, maltose, fructose was reduced in order. The other hand, sucrose, rhamnose were not detected or were detected trace amounts in some samples. Even the characteristics were found at each region, it was no noticeable difference, but each sample was greater variation. Total of 17 amino acids were found from COM and the major amino acids were Pro, Glu, Asp, but His, Met were generally detected in small amounts. In the TG, they mainly contained Glu, Asp, Pro as the dominant component in addition to the Arg, Ala, Cys, respectively. TG had higher amino acid content and fairly various distribution compared to COM. It could suggest the possibility of the development for different traditional tastes because each TG had diverse characteristic taste than COM. Key word : free sugar, free amino acid, taste component, traditional Gochujang, small farms, analysis