Natural Flavoring Materials Plant Sources

Plant materials, which are classified as foods themselves (e.g., raspberries, grapes, apples) may serve as flavorings substances however, they tend to be quite weak in 

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Since early antiquity, spices and resins from animal and plant sources have been used extensively for perfumery and flavor purposes, and to a lesser extent for their observed or presumed preservative properties. Fragrance and flavor materials vary from highly complex mixtures to single chemicals. Their history began when people discovered that components characteristic of the aroma of natural products could be enriched by simple methods. Recipes for extraction with olive oil and for distillation have survived from pre-Christian times to this day. 

The term artificial flavor or artificial flavoring means any substance, the function of which is to impart flavor, which is not derived from a spice, fruit or fmit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof. Artificial flavor includes the substances listed in 172.515(b) and 182.60 of this chapter except where these are derived from natural sources [37],... 

Natural products have served as an important source of drugs since ancient times. In recent years, a renewed interest in obtaining biologically active compounds from natural sources has been observed. Essential oils are highly concentrated substances present in aromatic plants that can be extracted from flowers, leaves, stems, roots, seeds, barks, resins, or fruit rinds. The levels of essential oils found in plants can be anywhere from 0.01 to 10 wt% of the total. This is why tons of plant materials are required for just a few hundred grams of oil. These oils are often used for their flavor and their therapeutic or odoriferous properties. They are used in a wide selection of products such as foods, medicines, and cosmetics. 

The role of fragrances since ancient times has been to cover unpleasant smell and to provide a pleasing impression (e.g., fmity, floral, marine etc.). Fragrance and flavor raw materials are obtained either from natural sources (e.g., terpenes, plant essential oils, animal secretions or from chemical synthesis. As the enantiomers of many odorant molecules differ in strength and in odor/taste description, the selective (and often catalytic) synthesis of the more appreciated isomer is of great interest. This avoids the dilution effect by the non-desired isomer and reduces the amount of active ingredient in the final product. Table 5.3.19 shows the example of (Sj-citronellol, an important perfumery raw material with a rose note. 

Another approach to the detection of adulteration has been to determine whether a pure chemical has been synthesized from petroleum-based chemicals or from recent plant metabolism [25]. AU recent plant tissues contain some C due to HU in the CO2 of the atmosphere (nuclear testing). The only way for a flavor compound to show no C is if it has been synthesized from petroleum sources. C has a half-life of about 5,730 years and thus is depleted in crude oil. An obvious weakness of this method is it does not distinguish synthetic chemicals made from plant starting materials from truly natural materials. 

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