Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Fermentation processes – Of plant or plant derived material
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-01
2002-08-20
Hendricks, Keith (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Fermentation processes
Of plant or plant derived material
C426S615000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06436452
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to processing tomatoes into paste, sauce or related products, in which the processed products have an improved flavour. More in particular, the processed products have increased amounts of fruity flavour compounds.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Processing tomatoes to prepare tomato paste, pasta sauce, etcetera usually involves comminuting tomatoes, heating to inactivate cell-wall degrading enzymes, such as polygalacturonase (PG) and pectin methyl esterase (PME), and heating to remove water (by evaporation) to obtain the desired thickness. The cutting operation and further processing (heating) liberates and induces generation of flavour and aroma compounds. If one plots a graph of the development of flavour intensity over time, (roughly speaking) three peaks can be distinguished, although the bases of the curves overlap with each other.
Early in processing a mixture of predominantly “green” flavours develops, of which the intensity gradually builds to a peak, whereafter the “green” flavours gradually disappear, as they are volatile and heating is effected in the processing. Said heating starts the formation of “burnt” flavour notes, which also builds to a peak in intensity during the processing, albeit usually lower and broader, depending on e.g. processing conditions. In between these two peaks a third peak of “fruity” flavours (also sometimes referred to as “cooked tomato” flavours) can be distinguished, although in most processing operations its peak of intensity is much lower than the “green” and “burnt” flavours, which are still/already present.
Hence, processing tomatoes on an industrial scale leads to a flavour development over time in which the intensity of the desired “fruity” (and/or “cooked tomato”) flavours is usually very much dominated by “green” and/or “burnt” notes that are present.
An important “fruity” flavour in the above (which is generated in tomatoes) is known to be &bgr;-ionone. Similar known in this respect is &bgr;-cyclocitral. R. G. Buttery et al report in J. Agric. Food Chem. Vol. 38(1), pp. 336-340 (1990) that &bgr;-ionone is present in fresh tomatoes and in tomato paste in concentrations of about 4 and 2 (0-4) ppb, respectively. Similarly, it is reported that &bgr;-cyclocitral is present in fresh tomatoes and in tomato paste in concentrations of about 3 and 3 (2-6) ppb, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,372 discloses the preparation of flavour compounds by an enzymic process, in which a source having lipoxygenase and hydroperoxide lyase activity is contacted with unsaturated fatty acids and carotene. The resulting flavour mixture comprises both C6-C10-aldehydes and ionones.
In Sciences Des Aliments, 11, 277-290 (1991) it is disclosed by M Cabibel and J. Nicolas that isolated lipoxygenase from tomato origin can oxidise pigments like &bgr;-carotene, when in the presence of linoleate.
It is reported by C. L. Allen and J. W. Gramshaw in “Special Publications of the Royal Society of Chemistry” Vol. 197, 32-37 (1996) that lipoxygenase isolated from tomato fruit can catalyse the oxidation of linoleic acid in the presence of &bgr;-carotene. The major co-oxidation products are reported to be &bgr;-ionone, &bgr;-cyclocitral, and 5,6-epoxy-&bgr;-ionone.
P. Winterhalter (Biotechnology for Improved Foods and Flavours, chapter 28: Carotenoid-Derived Aroma Compounds: Biogenic and Biotechnological Aspects) discloses that lipoxygenase can co-oxidise polyunsaturated compounds and polyene compounds. The polyene compounds can be (derived from) natural sources rich in carotenoids, such as palm oil or plant extracts (e.g. carrots).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,851 discloses that the flavor of processed tomato products can be improved by the addition of a mixture composed of cis-3-hexenal, 2-methylhept-2-en-6-one, eugenol, and &bgr;-ionone.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for preparing a processed tomato product, which tomato product should have an enhanced “fruity” flavour (flavour is to be understood herein to include aroma next to taste), when compared to conventional processing. Said process should preferably involve minimal changes in conventional tomato processing to provide a processed tomato product (e.g. paste, pasta, passata, salsa, sauce, dices, pulp etcetera). Any changes in processing involving the addition of specific components should preferably be such that the added components are food grade and/or are of tomato-origin. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a processed tomato product having an enhanced “fruity” flavour.
It has been found that the above objectives can be achieved by a process for preparing a tomato product, the process comprising at least the steps of:
comminuting tomatoes,
adding a source providing solubilised or soluble carotenoids
adding a source providing poly-unsaturated fatty acids, incubating the above mixture for at least 10 minutes.
In this process, the tomatoes before being incubated should preferably treated such that not all endogenous enzymes are being inactivated.
Alternatively, such a product may be obtained by a process for preparing a tomato product, the process comprising at least the steps of:
comminuting tomatoes,
solubilising carotenoids present in said tomatoes,
adding a source providing poly-unsaturated fatty acids,
adding an enzyme preparation having lipoxygenase (EC 1.13.11.12) activity, incubating the above mixture for at least 10 minutes.
It was found that the above processes, which rely on the same principle, provide a processed tomato product having a concentration of &bgr;-ionone of at least 10 ppb (parts-per-billion).
Likewise, to further improve the fruity flavour of the processed tomato product, it is preferred to provide a processed tomato product having a concentration of &bgr;-cyclocitral of at least 10 ppb (parts-per-billion). The above can be achieved by the same processes as disclosed above.
The term “processed” is herein to be understood as to refer to any product obtained by comminuting fresh tomatoes, but preferably not (sun-)dried tomatoes.
In the above, it is in particular preferred if the processed tomato product is a tomato pasta, tomato passata, tomato salsa, tomato ketchup, pulped tomato, diced tomato, tomato juice, tomato soup, etcetera.
In the processes as disclosed above, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA's) may be added as such or in the form of triglycerides of PUFA's. Considering the latter case, most PUFA-triglyceride sources such as olive oil contain a considerable amount of free fatty acids, among which are free PUFA's. When adding triglycerides, it is also possible to liberate the PUFA's therefrom, provided that in the latter case an enzyme having lipolytic activity is present or is added.
In the first process as described above, one source providing both carotenoids and poly-unsaturated fatty acids may be used to provide both components partly or fully. An example of such a source is vegetable oil rich in carotenoids, such as olive or or palm oil.
Although two processes are set out above, the essence of the invention can be seen in the following process:
comminuting tomatoes,
adding a source providing poly-unsaturated fatty acids,
ensuring solubilised or soluble carotenoids are present
ensuring an enzyme having lipoxygenase (EC 1.13.11.12) activity is present
incubating the above mixture for at least 10 minutes. Some of the compounds (e.g. the enzyme or carotenoids) can be present by nature in tomatoes, and is it a mere “making them available” (carotenoids) or activation (enzyme).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
To further improve the fruity flavour of the processed tomato product, it is preferred to provide a processed tomato product having a concentration of &bgr;-ionone of at least 30 ppb (parts-per-billion). More preferably the concentration of &bgr;-ionone is at least 100 ppb.
Depending upon the source and intended product, it may be preferred to have processed tomato products which are both high in &bgr;-ionone and &bgr;-cyclocitral,
Deutz Inge Elisabeth
Dunphy Patrick Joseph
van der Hijden Hendrikus Theodorus
Hendricks Keith
Lipton, division of Concopo, Inc.
McGowan, Jr. Gerard J.
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