Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Beverage or beverage concentrate
Patent
1996-07-19
1999-07-06
Pratt, Helen
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Beverage or beverage concentrate
426430, 426634, 426650, 426655, A23L 200
Patent
active
059195118
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a process for the preparation of a plant embryo extract having high stability and to drinks containing such an extract.
BACKGROUND ART
Plant embryos contain a large amount of linoleic acid which is an essential fatty acid, and also contain various water-soluble vitamins (chiefly vitamins B.sub.1, B.sub.2 and B.sub.6); various fat-soluble vitamins (chiefly vitamin E); and K, Na, Ca, Mg and other essential trace elements. Accordingly, plant embryos are used as a raw material for the production of embryo oil. Moreover, defatted plant embryos are used as a raw material for food, livestock feed, fertilizer and the like. Furthermore, they are properly roasted and used as health food. Excepting them, no remarkable use thereof has not been developed.
The present inventor has previously proposed a process for the extraction of embryo components which comprises extracting cereal embryos with hot water at about 70.degree. C. or above in the presence of an added starch hydrolase, boiling the extraction mixture without solid-liquid separation, and then subjecting the extraction mixture to solid-liquid separation (Japanese Patent Publication No. 1027/'80). However, when this extract is used to prepare embryo drinks, the sugars, proteins and other components contained therein precipitate as "sediment" with the lapse of time. This constitutes a serious obstacle to the preparation of drinks using plant embryos or defatted plant embryos as a raw material.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an embryo extract having high stability which extract is suitable for use in the preparation of drinks containing an abundance of components peculiar to plant embryos or defatted plant embryos (i,e., flavonoids, vitamins, minerals and the like) and having good storage stability.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present inventor has made an intensive investigation with a view to developing a water-soluble embryo extract which has high stability and is suitable for the preparation of embryo drinks having good storage stability in that they produce no "sediment" and show no change in taste or flavor even after long-term storage. As a result, it has now been found that the above-described object can be accomplished by extracting defatted plant embryos with methanol or ethanol having a water content equal to or lower than a certain level. The present invention has been completed on the basis of this finding.
Thus, according to the present invention, there is provided a process for the preparation of an embryo extract having high stability which comprises extracting defatted plant embryos with methanol or ethanol having a water content of not greater than 80% by weight.
The defatted plant embryos which can be extracted according to the present invention include defatted embryos of cereals such as those of wheat, rice and corn. Among others, defatted embryos of wheat are preferred.
The methanol or ethanol used for the extraction of such defatted plant embryos may be in an anhydrous form containing essentially no water, but water-containing methanol or water-containing ethanol may also be used. However, it is desirable that the water content of such water-containing alcohols is not more than 80% by weight, preferably not more than 75% by weight, more preferably not more than 65% by weight, and most preferably not more than 40% by weight. Moreover, it is desirable to use ethanol rather than methanol. In practice, ethanol having a water content of 10 to 75% by weight is used to advantage.
Although the temperature used for the extraction may be varied according to the type of the alcohol, and the like, it generally ranges from room temperature to the boiling point of the solvent and preferably from room temperature to about 50.degree. C. In some cases, the extraction may be carried out under pressure within a pressure vessel, or may be carried out while the solvent is heated under reflux.
Furthermore, the proportion of the aforesaid alcohol to the defatted plant embryos is not
REFERENCES:
patent: 2975066 (1961-03-01), Baker et al.
patent: 4339466 (1982-07-01), Van Gheluwe
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