Abstract:Gas Chromatography-Ion Mobility Spectrometry (GC-IMS) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques were used to analyze the effects of thermal pasteurization (TP) and high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) process on the volatiles of litchi juice and its lactobacillus fermented juice. The results showed that 70 volatiles were identified by GC-IMS, including ketones, alcohols, esters, aldehyde and terpenoids. TP process resulted in a serious loss of ethyl propionate, methyl 2-methylpropanoate, benzyl alcohol and 1-octene-3-alcohol in fresh litchi juice, while volatiles such as butyl propionate, trimethylpyrazine, 5-nonone and 2,5-dimethylthiophene were more abundant after fermentation. The volatiles in HHP pretreated juice were similar to those in fresh litchi juice, and compounds such as linalool, 2,6-dimethylpyrazine, cis rose ether and benzaldehyde were more abundant in its fermented juice; 51 volatiles were identified by GC-MS, mostly including terpenoids and alcohols. TP process caused the contents of terpenoids and alcohols in litchi juice to decrease by 37.05% and 31.11% respectively. Compared with the fresh juice, terpenoids and alcohols contents in HHP litchi juice increased by 33.57% and 80.07% respectively. While the total contents of volatiles in TP and HHP fermented litchi juice increased by 46.93% and 46.19% respectively, compared with the pretreated juice. What’s more, the contents of volatiles in HHP fermented litchi juice were 2.11 times higher than that in the TP fermented juice, with more pleasant aroma. The combination of the two technologies shows that HHP pretreatment can effectively improve the aroma quality of litchi juice and its fermented juice, which provides a reference value for improving the quality of litchi fermented juice.