Citrus aqueous essences

Essence oil and aqueous essence (sometimes called aqueous aroma) are both formed from the condensate from steam distillation/evaporation of citrus juices. These products consist of volatile juice compounds and do not contain non-volatile pigments. 

Citrus essences are distilled aqueous solutions of the more volatile components from the corresponding citms juices, as defined by Shaw (10). Commercially, they are added to concentrated citms juices to impart fresh fmit flavor that may be lost during the concentration process. Essence may be collected from fresh juice either by partial distillation prior to juice evaporation or by condensation of volatiles from the early stages of evaporation (11). Two phases, namely, aqueous essence and essence oil, are obtained during recovery. 

Distillation of citrus juices yields two volatile fractions, namely, aqueous essences and essence oils that are separated from each other by condensation of the distillate (7). Aqueous essence, the bottom layer of the condensate is comprised of organic acids, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, hydrocarbons, ketones, hydrogen sulfide, and oxides (10). Considering many components found in both cold-pressed peel oil and aqueous essence, essence oil has a flavor similar to that of the combined peel oil and aqueous essence (10). However, essence oil usually contains a larger amount of... 

Yet another valuable flavor product of citrus fruits is the essence oil. The favored method for the transport of citrus juice is in the form of a frozen juice concentrate. The fruit juice is partly dehydrated by distilling off under vacuum the greater part of the water and frozen. Distilling off the water results in significant losses of the desirable volatiles responsible for the aroma of the fruit. These volatiles are captured in several cold traps and constitute the aqueous essence or essence oil that has the typical fruity and fresh fragrance, but slightly less aldehydic than that of the oil. This oil is used to enhance the flavor of the reconstituted juice obtained by thawing and dilution with water of the frozen concentrate. 

Essential oils are to be distinguished from the so-called distillates which are ethanol-containing products that are obtained from plant materials by distillation with ethanol or with ethanol-water mixtures. Essence oils are defined as essential oils that separate from the aqueous phase in the distillation receiver during the distillative concentration of fruit juices (usually citrus juices). 

Production of Citrus Essence Oils. Distillative concentration of citrus juices yields essence oils, which separate from the aqueous phase in the receiver when the distillate condenses. The composition of essence oils is similar to that of peel oils, but the essence oils usually contain larger quantities of aliphatic ethyl esters (e.g., ethyl butyrate in orange essence oil). Thus, their aroma resembles that of a particular juice more than that of peel oils. 

A flavouring essence is a traditional flavouring product prepared by washing a selected oil blend (predominately citrus oils) with an aqueous alcoholic solvent mixture (e.g. 60% ethanol/40% water). It is an extraction process in which the aqueous extract phase becomes the flavouring. The process is earned out under cool temperatures, for example, 5-10°C, either batch-wise or by counter-current extraction. The soluble oxygenated flavouring constituents present in the essential oil blend (e.g. citral in lemon oil) are effectively partitioned between the two phases of the mixture. The low temperatures employed ensure that the transfer of any oil into the hydro-alcoholic phase is minimised as a poorly processed essence will tend to cloud when used in the drink formulation. 

They stressed that the availability of fused silica capillary columns coated with cross-linked non-polar liquid phases permitted development of this technique. Such columns resist the deterioration which was previously encountered with aqueous samples. These authors applied this technique to several citrus essences as well as to fruit essences such as grape, apple and strawberry. 

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