A Comprehensive Instrumental Analysis Framework for Assessing the Dissolvability and Taste Properties of Plant Extract Instant Granules.

Flavor profile and water dissolvability serve as core evaluation benchmarks for the quality of food and medicinal plant-derived instant granules. Currently, studies integrating flavor and dissolvability analysis to comprehensively characterize the overall performance of such granules remain scarce, and the existing literature lacks systematic comparative research on commercial products across multiple sources and batches. This study investigated 90 batches of four categories of plant extract instant granules and established a dynamic-static joint evaluation system coupled with multiple indicators and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The three primary indicators were dissolving extent, dissolving rate, and taste, with equal weights assigned to each; the secondary indicators were classified and integrated based on the results of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and correlation matrix. Quantitative analysis revealed that the comprehensive evaluation scores of all 90 batches of samples fluctuated between 0.5406 and 0.9503, and obvious disparities existed among different granule varieties. This multi-index evaluation framework effectively avoids the subjective bias inherent in conventional evaluation approaches, and lays a solid scientific foundation for quality supervision, formula optimization research and development, as well as market popularization of plant-based instant granules.