Enhancement of nutritional, organoleptic, and umami qualities of chicken soup induced by enzymatic pre-treatment of chicken.

To enhance both the quality and cooking efficiency of chicken soup, the effect of enzymatic pre-treatment of chicken on the quality of the chicken soup was investigated in this study. Results indicated that the application of enzymatic pre-treatment markedly enhanced the sensory attributes, physicochemical properties, and nutritional value, compared with the control sample. Specifically, the chicken soup with enzymatic pre-treatment exhibited a significant increase in the concentration of water-soluble proteins, 5'-nucleotides, and umami amino acids ( < 0.05). There were 52 umami peptides identified in enzymatic pre-treatment chicken soup, and eight abundant umami peptides were chosen for molecular docking. The analysis revealed that the primary active sites for interaction between the umami peptide and the T1R1/T1R3 receptor were ASP-30, GLU-27, and MET-342. Therefore, enzymatic pre-treatment of chicken facilitates high-value-added chicken soup products and provides a new approach to improve the quality and efficiency of chicken soup.