Origin-dependent chemical profiles and quality differentiation of candied Prunus mume: Insights from metabolomics, GC–MS volatile profiling, and interpretable machine learning

Prunus mume is widely processed into candied products, but the food-chemical basis of origin-related quality variation remains unclear. Fruits from fourteen Chinese origins were processed into candied P. mume (CPM) under a unified candying regime and analyzed using quality-trait assays, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) profiling of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), untargeted metabolomics, relative odor activity value (ROAV) analysis, weighted correlation network analysis (WCNA), and random forest-Shapley additive explanations (RF-SHAP). CPM showed origin-dependent differences in sugar-acid traits, antioxidant capacity, VOC profiles, and non-volatile metabolite profiles. ROAV and WCNA revealed shared aroma-active contributors and origin-associated volatile modules. The non-volatile metabolite profile showed abundance differences within a shared metabolite backbone, involving flavonoid glycosides, phenolic derivatives, carbohydrates/glycosides and organic-acid-related compounds. RF-SHAP prioritized differentiating metabolites, while cross-layer integration linked antioxidant-related variation to phenolic/flavonoid metabolism and sugar-acid variation to carbohydrates and organic acids. These findings provide a chemical basis for origin-oriented quality evaluation of CPM.