Aconitic acid, gluconic acid and/or succinic acid taken alone or further together with sclareolide in enhancing the organoleptic properties of foodstuffs.Described is the use of one or more of the acids: aconitic acid, gluconic acid and/or succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) taken alone or further together with sclareolide in augmenting or enhancing the organoleptic properites of foodstuffs particularly with respect to imparting a umami effect and/or imparting of mouthfeel and fullness to the flavor of foodstuffs in the absence of amino acids except sulfur-bearing amino acids, salts thereof, pyrrolidone carboxylic acid, salts thereof and nucleotides.
Our invention is drawn to the use of one or more of the acids:
aconitic acid having the structure: succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) having the structure: and/or gluconic acid having the structure: taken alone or taken further together with sclareolide having the structure: in augmenting or enhancing the organoleptic properties of foodstuffs particularly with respect to imparting an umami effect and/or imparting of mouthfeel and fullness to the flavor of foodstuffs in the absence of amino acids (except sulfur-bearing amino acids), salts thereof, pyrrolidone carboxylic acid, salts thereof, and nucleotides.
Our invention is also intended to cover mixtures per se of sclareolide having the structure: and succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) having the structure: with the mole ratios of sclareolide:succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) varing from 99 down to 99:1; and with the preferred mole ratio of sclareolide:succinic acid being in the range of from about 0.1:1 up to 1:0.1.
Preferably, our invention covers the percentage of aconitic acid, succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) and/or gluconic acid on a finished basis in a foodstuff of from about 0,001% up to about 0.05%; and on a dry basis from about 0.15% up to about 1.5%.
The weight ratio of aconitic acid; gluconic acid and/or succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) to sclareolide (when the sclareolide is used) may vary from about 1:99 up to about 99:1 with a preferred weight ratio of about 0.5:1.5 up to about 1.5:0.5 of acid:sclareolide.
The mixtures of aconitic acid, gluconic acid and/or succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) taken alone or further together with sclareolide may be used in various foodstuffs, preferably foodstuffs that have a meaty flavor such as chicken soup or biscuits or foodstuffs which require the "umami" effect as discussed in the Sugita Chapter IV "Recent Developments in Umami Research" which is part of the text "Developments In Food Flavors" by Birch and Lindley (Elsevier Applied Science) , 1986, cited, supra.
With regard to the succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) useful in our invention, crystalline succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) is highly useful. Furthermore, succinic acid produced by means of fermentation is useful in practicing our invention. Thus, the succinic acid(cas:110-15-6) shown to be produced according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,833 issued on Sep. 1, 1992 and U.S. Patent 5,143,834 issued on Sep. 1, 1992 are preferred forms of succinic acid so useful. By the same token, the calcium succinate and other succinic acid salts shown to be produced by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,143,833 and 5,143,834 are preferred in practicing our invention.
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