A novel protein deamidase having an activity of directly acting on a side chain amide group of an asparagine residue in a protein to form a side chain carboxyl group and release ammonia, a microorganism that produces the same, a gene encoding the same, a method for producing the same, and use of the same are provided. A bacterium classified into the class Actinobacteria is cultured to generate protein deamidase, and the enzyme is collected from culture.

A flavour composition comprising a compound according to the formula (I) or edible salts thereof,

##STR00001##

wherein
R.sub.1 is an alkyl residue containing 6 to 20 carbon atoms, or an alkene residue containing from 9 to 25 carbon atoms with 1 to 6 double bonds, R.sub.1 together with the carbonyl group to which it is attached is a residue of a carboxylic acid, and NR.sub.2R.sub.3, in which R.sub.3 is H or together with R.sub.2 and the N-atom to which they are attached, a 5-membered ring, is a residue of an amino acid, in particular a proteinogenic amino acid, ornithine, gamma-aminobutyric acid or beta alanine, or a 1-amino cycloalkyl carboxylic acid.

A flavour composition comprising a compound according to the formula (1) or edible salts thereof,

##STR00001##

wherein R.sub.1 is an alkyl residue containing 6 to 20 carbon atoms, or an alkene residue containing from 9 to 25 carbon atoms with 1 to 6 double bonds, R.sub.1 together with the carbonyl group to which it is attached is a residue of a carboxylic acid, and NR.sub.2R.sub.3, in which R.sub.3 is H or together with R.sub.2 and the N-atom to which they are attached, a 5-membered ring, is a residue of an amino acid, in particular a proteinogenic amino acid, ornithine, gamma-aminobutyric acid or beta alanine, or a 1-amino cycloalkyl carboxylic acid.

A flavour composition comprising a compound according to the formula (I) or edible salts thereof,

##STR00001##

wherein

R.sub.1 is alkyl residue containing 6 to 20 carbon atoms, or an alkene residue containing from 9 to 25 carbon atoms with 1 to 6 double bonds, R.sub.1 together with the carbonyl to which it is attached is a residue carboxylic acid, and NR.sub.2R.sub.3, in which R.sub.2 is H or together with R.sub.2 and the N-atom to which they are attached, a 5-membered ring, is a residue of an amino acid, in particular proteinogenic amino acid, ornithine, gamma-aminobutyric acid or beta alanine, or a 1-amino cycloalkyl carboxylic acid.

The present invention includes a method of myceliating coffee beans including sterilizing the coffee beans, preparing a liquid tissue culture including an aliquot of fungal liquid tissue culture derived from liquid state fermentation, and inoculating the coffee beans with the fungal liquid tissue culture. Next, the step of enabling mycelium growth on the coffee includes controlling temperature, humidity, and sterility of the environment. The aliquot of fungal liquid tissue culture is optionally agitated to form hyphael conglomerations of mycelium having sizes of less than 1 mm in diameter.

[Problem] Provided is a food composition containing acetic bacterial cells which has a good aroma, and a method of producing the food composition.

[Solution] The food composition containing acetic bacterial cells of the present invention contains acetic acid and n-butyric acid, the peak area ratio between which is 40:1 to 1:20, as measured by solid phase micro extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for odor components in the food composition. Surprisingly, such a food composition has a fermentative aroma like rice bran which can stimulate consumers' appetite.

The present disclosure relates to a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens CJ14-6 strain isolated from traditional meju, a preparation method for soybean koji using the same, and a soybean koji prepared by the preparation method. The preparation method for soybean koji includes: soaking soybeans in water or adding waster to soybeans and steaming the soaked soybeans; and inoculating a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens CJ14-6 strain into the steamed soybeans, fermenting the steamed soybeans, and drying the fermented soybeans to prepare a soybean koji.

The present invention relates to an extract obtained by extracting useful components containing equol from an equol-containing fermented soybean hypocotyl, and to a method for producing the same.

The present invention makes it possible to efficiently obtain useful components containing equol from the fermented soybean hypocotyl by subjecting an equol-containing fermented soybean hypocotyl to extraction using an ethanol aqueous solution as an extractant. The present invention reduces the content of saponin, which causes an unpleasant taste, by sequentially subjecting the equol-containing fermented soybean hypocotyl to extraction using an ethanol aqueous solution and ethanol, while efficiently extracting equol and glycitein.

A process for producing a plant protein ingredient and the plant protein ingredient is disclosed. The process may include comminuting the plant material into particles, thereby obtaining comminuted plant material; separating the particles of the comminuted plant material into a finer fraction and a coarser fraction; washing the finer fraction with an aqueous alcohol solution for reducing the solubility of proteins contained in the finer fraction, thereby obtaining a washed finer fraction; enzymatically treating the washed finer fraction to remove at least a part of the phytate and/or cell wall components to obtain an enzymatically treated finer fraction, and optionally removing at least a part of water soluble components from the enzymatically treated finer fraction, thereby obtaining the plant protein ingredient; and drying the plant protein ingredient to a moisture content of at most 45% (w/w).

A flavour composition comprising a compound according to the formula (I) edible salts thereof, wherein R.sub.1 is an alkyl residue containing 6 to 20 carbon atoms, or an alkene residue containing from 9 to 25 carbon atoms with 1 to 6 double bonds, R.sub.1 together with the carbonyl group to which it is attached is a residue of a carboxylic acid, and m is 0 or 1.

##STR00001##