SOLID COMPOSITION HAVING GREEN LAVER SCENT

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a solid composition that provides excellent green laver aroma when added to a medium such as water. In the solid composition, dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one are incorporated, and a weight ratio of dimethyl sulfide content to 1-penten-3-one content is adjusted to not less than 120.

Claims

1. A solid composition comprising dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one, and having a weight ratio of dimethyl sulfide content to 1-penten-3-one content of not less than 120.

2. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the composition is a powder composition.

3. The composition according to claim 1, further comprising two or more types of dextrins.

4. The composition according to claim 3, further comprising a linear dextrin and a cyclic dextrin.

5. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the composition has a weight ratio of dimethyl sulfide content to 1-penten-3-one content of not less than 150.

6. The composition according to claim 1, further comprising at least one aroma component selected from the group consisting of -ionone, -ionone, -cyclocitral, (z)-3-hexenol, 1-penten-3-ol, hexanal, and nerolidol.

7. The composition according to claim 1, further comprising a tea leaf extract.

8. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the tea leaf extract is a Sencha tea leaf extract.

9. A beverage or food comprising the composition according to claim 1.

10. The beverage or food according to claim 9, wherein the beverage or food is a beverage.

11. The beverage or food according to claim 10, wherein the beverage or food is a tea beverage.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0076] Hereunder, the present invention will be described by way of working examples, but this invention is not limited to these examples.

1. Preparation of Solid Compositions (Powder Compositions)

(1-1) Liquid Tea Leaf Extract

[0077] A tea extraction tank was charged with commercial Sencha tea leaves, and also with a dextrin (20 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of Sencha), tannase (11.2 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of Sencha), L-ascorbic acid (3 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of Sencha) and sodium bicarbonate (1.2 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of Sencha), and then further charged with hot water in an amount equal to 15 times the amount of Sencha charged (15 L per kg of Sencha), and the mixture was held at 45 C. for 20 minutes to prepare a liquid tea leaf extract. The dextrin used was a mixture of a linear dextrin (weight average molecular weight: 120000; DE: 2 to 5) and -cyclodextrin at a weight ratio of 4:1. The prepared liquid tea leaf extract was subjected to solid-liquid separation (to remove residues of tea leaf extraction), and then mixed with a dextrin (linear dextrin) added in an amount of 4.1 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of the liquid tea leaf extract, and the mixture was heat-treated under the conditions of 90 C. for 30 seconds. After removal of insolubles (tea leaves), the liquid tea leaf extract was concentrated by membrane concentration using a reverse osmosis membrane, to thereby prepare a liquid tea leaf extract having a Brix value, i.e. solids concentration in solution, of 26.5.

(1-2) Tea Leaf Distillate

[0078] Separately from the aforementioned process, a distillate was prepared from tea leaves. To be specific, commercial Kabuse-cha tea leaves were mixed with an equal amount of water (1 kg of water per kg of tea leaves) to moisten the tea leaves. Next, the tea leaves were placed in a steam still, and blow-in type steam distillation was performed under the following conditions: the steam pressure was set to 0.20 MPa; the steam flow rate was set to a value sufficient to collect a distillate (aroma) in an amount of about 60 wt. % based on the weight of the source materials in about 30 minutes; and the steam temperature was set to about 100 C. (at atmospheric pressure). The steam was condensed such that the temperature of the distillate (aroma) fell below 20 C. The time of distillate collection was set to about 30 minutes after the distillate started to distill out. The same operation was repeated to obtain the distillate in an amount of about 60 wt. % based on the weight of the source materials.

[0079] Further, the obtained distillate was placed in a still, and the interior of the still was depressurized to 0.089 MPa using a vacuum pump. The depressurized still was indirectly heated at a steam pressure of 0.20 MPa to raise the temperature of the distillate to 60 C. A distillate was collected by condensing the steam such that the temperature of the distillate (aroma) fell below 20 C. The distillate was collected over about 160 minutes after the distillate stated to distill out. The amount of distillate obtained was about 10 wt. % based on the amount of the distillate (aroma) charged to the still. This operation was repeated four times to concentrate the distillate (aroma) about 10-fold. The thus-obtained distillate was used as a tea leaf distillate.

(1-3) Powder Composition

[0080] The liquid tea leaf extract obtained in (1-1) was mixed with the tea leaf distillate obtained in (1-2) (1.5 wt. parts of the tea leaf distillate per 100 wt. parts of the liquid tea leaf extract), and then the mixed solution was heat-treated under the conditions of 90 C. for 45 seconds. The heat-treated solution was spray-dried using a spray dryer to prepare a powder composition.

(1-4) Evaluation of Powder Compositions

[0081] When the above obtained powder composition was dissolved in water, the solution was perceived to have excellent green laver aroma. As a result of analyzing this powder composition, different aroma components were detected, such as dimethyl sulfide, 1-penten-3-one, -ionone, -ionone, -cyclocitral, nerolidol, hexanal, 1-penten-3-ol, and (z)-3-hexenol. With the presence of dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one being particularly focused among those aroma components, the concentrations of these two components in this powder composition were measured by following the procedure described below.

Calibration Curve

[0082] Standard stock solutions (in ethanol solvent) were prepared so as to ensure that each of the aroma components of interest was present at a concentration of 1000 ppm. Each stock solution was diluted with pure water to concentrations of 0.004, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 ppm. 10 mL each of the prepared solutions was transferred into a 20 mL glass vial containing 3 g of sodium chloride, and the thus obtained samples were used for calibration curve plotting.

Preparation of an Analysis Sample

[0083] The powder composition was dissolved in pure water, as appropriate, to give a concentration that fell within the concentration range of the calibration curve, and 10 mL of the diluted solution and 3 g of sodium chloride were placed in a 20 mL glass vial to thereby prepare an analysis sample.

Component Analysis

[0084] The concentrations of the different aroma components were measured using a gas chromatographic analysis system (Shimadzu Nexis GC-2030 (produced by Shimadzu Corporation)).

[0085] System: [0086] GC: Shimadzu Nexis GC-2030 [0087] MS: Shimadzu GCMS-QP2020NX [0088] HS: Shimadzu AOC-6000 [0089] SPME: SPME Arrow 1.10 mm (DVB/C-WR/PDMS)

[0090] Column: GL Sciences InertCap 60 m0.25 mm i.d., df=0.25 m

[0091] Temperature conditions: 40 C. (kept for 4 min.), then increasing at a rate of 5 C./min. to 240 C.

[0092] Carrier gas flow rate: Helium, 1.43 mL/min.

[0093] Injection method: Split (split ratio 1:9)

[0094] Ion source temperature: 200 C.

[0095] As a result of the above measurement, the concentrations of dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one in the analysis sample were found to be 10.4 ppb and 0.08 ppb, respectively.

2. Study on the Ratio of Aroma Components (1)

[0096] Based on the measurement results given above, a focus was placed on the content ratio of dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one, and in particular, a study was made on the weight ratio of dimethyl sulfide content to 1-penten-3-one content (dimethyl sulfide/1-penten-3-one).

[0097] First, a base powdered tea was prepared. To be specific, a tea extraction tank was charged with commercial Sencha tea leaves, and also with a dextrin (20 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of Sencha), tannase (11.2 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of Sencha), L-ascorbic acid (3 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of Sencha) and sodium bicarbonate (1.2 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of Sencha), and then further charged with hot water in an amount equal to 15 times the amount of Sencha charged (15 L per kg of Sencha), and the mixture was held at 45 C. for 20 minutes to prepare a liquid tea leaf extract. The dextrin used was a mixture of a linear dextrin (weight average molecular weight: 120000; DE: 2 to 5) and -cyclodextrin at a weight ratio of 4:1. The prepared liquid tea leaf extract was subjected to solid-liquid separation (to remove residues of tea leaf extraction), and then mixed with a dextrin (linear dextrin) added in an amount of 4.1 wt. parts per 100 wt. parts of the liquid tea leaf extract, and the mixture was heat-treated under the conditions of 90 C. for 30 seconds. After removal of insolubles (tea leaves), the liquid tea leaf extract was concentrated by membrane concentration using a reverse osmosis membrane, to thereby prepare a liquid tea leaf extract having a Brix value, i.e. solids concentration in solution, of 25.6. Finally, the obtained liquid tea leaf extract was heat-treated under the conditions of 90 C. for 45 seconds to thereby prepare a liquid tea leaf extract. The heat-treated liquid tea leaf extract was spray-dried to obtain a base powdered tea (powder).

[0098] Next, 1 g of the above obtained powdered tea was added to 100 mL of water to prepare a powdered tea solution. To the powdered tea solution, dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one reference standards were added to give different final concentrations as indicated in the table given below, whereby different concentrations of samples were prepared. Since the aroma component concentrations in the different reference standards were unknown, concentration measurements of the reference standards had been done by gas chromatography in advance. To be specific, the dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one reference standards were diluted with 50 to 5000 times their weights of pure water to adjust their concentrations, as appropriate, to lie within the ranges of the calibration curves, whereby samples for concentration measurement were prepared. The gas chromatographic analysis was done by following the same procedure as described above. Additionally, the dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one concentrations in the powdered tea per se before addition of the reference standards were 840 ppb and 0 ppb (below the limit of detection), respectively.

[0099] The different samples prepared using the reference standards were subjected to sensory evaluation by two panelists who were well trained in aroma evaluation. In this sensory evaluation, the extent of green laver aroma perceived from the samples, gassy odor and steamy sensation, and the favorableness of green laver aroma perceived from the samples were rated according to the rating scales detailed below, and the ratings given by the panelists were averaged. As referred to above, the term steamy sensation refers to a heating sensation which obscures aroma profiles. Additionally, the rating was done with a sample prepared by adding a dimethyl sulfide reference standard alone to a powdered tea solution to adjust the dimethyl sulfide concentration to 20 ppb being used as a control.

Extent of Green Laver Aroma

[0100] 1 point: No green laver aroma is perceived. [0101] 2 points: A slight green laver aroma is perceived. [0102] 3 points: A green laver aroma is perceived.

Gassy Odor and Steamy Sensation

[0103] 1 point: No gassy odor or steamy sensation is perceived. [0104] 2 points: Slight gassy odor and steamy sensation are perceived. [0105] 3 points: Gassy odor and steamy sensation are perceived.

Favorableness of Green Laver Aroma

[0106] 1 point: Unfavorable. [0107] 2 points: Somewhat favorable (somewhat excellent in green laver aroma). [0108] 3 points: Favorable (excellent in green laver aroma).

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Rating Dimethyl Gassy Dimethyl sulfide/ Green odor/ sulfide 1-Penten-3- 1-penten-3- laver steamy Favorable- [ppb] one [ppb] one aroma sensation ness Sample 1-1 20 0.05 400 3 1 3 Sample 1-2 20 0.08 250 2.5 1 3 Sample 1-3 20 0.13 160 2.5 1 2.5 Sample 1-4 20 0.16 125 2.5 2 2 Sample 1-5 20 0.20 100 2.5 2.5 1.5 Sample 1-6 20 0.50 40 2 3.5 1 Sample 1-7 10 0.05 200 2 1 2 Sample 1-8 10 0.08 125 2 1.5 2 Sample 1-9 10 0.20 50 2 3 1 Sample 1-10 100 0.20 500 3 1 3 Sample 1-11 100 0.50 200 3 2.5 2 Sample 1-12 100 1.00 100 2 4 1 Sample 1-13 100 5.00 20 1.5 5 1

[0109] As shown above, it was demonstrated that when samples contained dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one, and had a weight ratio of dimethyl sulfide content to 1-penten-3-one content (dimethyl sulfide/1-penten-3-one) within the specified range, the samples were perceived to have excellent green laver aroma.

3. Study on the Ratio of Aroma Components (2)

[0110] A study was made on the influence of a weight ratio of dimethyl sulfide content to 1-penten-3-one content (dimethyl sulfide/1-penten-3-one) using the powder composition prepared according to the procedure described above in 1.

[0111] As a result of the concentration measurement performed according to the procedure described above in 1, the dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one concentrations in the powder composition per se as used in this study were found to be 1500 ppb and 6 ppb, respectively. 1 g of this powder composition was added to 100 mL of water to prepare a solution of the powder composition. To the solution, a 1-penten-3-one reference standard was added to give different final concentrations as indicated in the table given below, whereby different concentrations of samples were prepared. As mentioned above in 1, since the 1-penten-3-one concentration in the reference standard was unknown, concentration measurement of the reference standard had been done by gas chromatography in advance. To be specific, the 1-penten-3-one reference standard was diluted with 50 to 5000 times its weight of pure water to adjust its concentration, as appropriate, to lie within the range of the calibration curve, whereby a sample for concentration measurement was prepared. The gas chromatographic analysis was done by following the same procedure as described above.

[0112] The different samples prepared using the reference standard were subjected to sensory evaluation by two panelists who were well trained in aroma evaluation, according to the evaluation procedure and rating scales described above in 2. The results are shown in the table given below.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Rating Dimethyl Gassy Dimethyl sulfide/ Green odor/ sulfide 1-Penten-3- 1-penten-3- laver steamy Favorable- [ppb] one [ppb] one aroma sensation ness Sample 2-1 15 0.06 250 3 1 3 Sample 2-2 15 0.08 188 3 1 3 Sample 2-3 15 0.10 150 3 1 3 Sample 2-4 15 0.50 30 1 3 1

[0113] As shown above, it was demonstrated that when samples contained dimethyl sulfide and 1-penten-3-one, and had a weight ratio of dimethyl sulfide content to 1-penten-3-one content (dimethyl sulfide/1-penten-3-one) within the specified range, the samples were perceived to have excellent green laver aroma. Since the powder composition samples used contained other aroma components in addition to the two components mentioned above, it was suggested that the presence of such other aroma components contributed to the improvement of green laver aroma.