Purification, Identification, and Sensory Evaluation of Kokumi Peptides from Agaricus bisporus Mushroom

Agaricus bisporus can enhance the umami and salty taste in chicken soup, and also has a high protein content, which indicates that there might be some kokumi taste compounds in this mushroom. Therefore, through ultrafiltration, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), some peptides in fresh Agaricus bisporus mushroom were isolated. Then, these peptides were identified by sensory evaluation and ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled quadruple time of flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF-MS). The sensory evaluation results showed that the addition of aqueous extract isolated from Agaricus bisporus to model chicken broth did enhance chicken broth’s complexity, mouthfulness, and palatability. UPLC-Q-TOF-MS analysis found that Gly-Leu-Pro-Asp (Mw = 399.99) and Gly-His-Gly-Asp (Mw = 383.99) might act as key molecules to cause kokumi taste. In order to verify the kokumi taste of the above two peptides, they were synthesized by solid-phase synthesis and the taste properties of these two peptides were further characterized by descriptive sensory evaluation and taste intensity tests. This work indicated that it was feasible to produce kokumi peptides from Agaricus bisporus.