Beef bouillon compound

Aimed at investigating taste enhancers in beef bouillon, taste activity-guided fractionation combined with the comparative taste dilution analysis led to the discovery of the presence of a sweet enhancing compound. Model Maillard reactions, spectroscopic and synthetic experiments revealed the previously unknown 1 - 1 -carboxyethyl)-5-hydroxy-2-... 

In order to analyze for sweet taste compounds in beef bouillon, the low molecular weight fraction was further separated by gel permeation... 

The comparative taste dilution analysis revealed a high TD factor of 16 for sweetness in fraction III (Figure 1). As this fraction showed no sweetness in the absence of sucrose, this fraction was assumed to contain a reaction product enhancing the sweetness of the sucrose solution by a factor of eight. Because sweetness enhancing compounds were not yet reported in beef bouillon, the following identification experiments were focused on the sapid taste modifier present in GPC fraction III (Figure 1). 

About 10 years ago iV-(l-methyl-4-hydroxy-3-imidazolin-2,2-ylidene)alanine was isolated from beef broth and reported to impart a brothy, thick sour taste as characteristic taste impression of beef bouillon (7). Although this compounds has been suggested to be formed from the reaction between creatinine and lactic acid, neither the formation pathways, nor the human threshold concentration for the sensory activity of that molecule was yet confirmed. In order to answer the question as to whether this taste modulator might be formed by Maillard-type reactions of creatinine, the objective of the present investigation was to screen for taste modulating creatinine glycation products in heated creatinine/ribose solutions and to investigate the sensory activity of these derivatives. Furthermore, LC-MS/MS studies should be performed to verify the natural occurrence of the identified taste modulators in beef stock. 

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