Plants vanilla

VANILLIN. Vanillin, [CAS 121-35-5]. CgHgCL, a natural product, can be found as a glucoside (ghicovanillin) in vanilla beans, at concentrations of about 2%. It can be extracted with water, alcohol, or other organic solvents. Approximately 250 by-products have been identified m natural vanilla, out of which 26 are present at levels in excess of 1 ppm. The balance of all these products contributes to the subtle taste of vanilla beans, The vanilla bean contains about 2% vanillin, but the 10% extract prepared from beans has several times lire strength of a solution of 2% vanillin. The best known natural source of vanillin is the vanilla plant, Vanilla planifolia A., which belongs to the orchid family. It is cultivated mainly in Mexico, Madagascar, Reunion, Java, and Tahiti. 

Ethanolic extraction is not used very much for plant materials because of the high proportion of water compared with oil in the plant (vanilla beans are an important exception). It is more important with... 

Vanilla. V. is the dried and fermented pod fruit of the vanilla plant. Vanilla planifolia, syn. V. fragrans, a tropical creeper belonging to the Orchidaceae. V. pods contain a dark, paste-like mass with many small black grains. 

The fruit capsules oftheyeiiowish-white flowering vanilla plant Vanilla planifolia, which wind themseives, iiana-like, around the tree branches, are harvested whiie still unripe. 

Another group of natural flavoring ingredients comprises those obtained by extraction from certain plant products such as vanilla beans, Hcotice root, St. John s bread, orange and lemon peel, coffee, tea, kola nuts, catechu, cherry, elm bark, cocoa nibs, and gentian root. These products are used in the form of alcohohc infusions or tinctures, as concentrations in alcohol, or alcohol—water extractions termed fluid or soHd extracts. Official methods for their preparation and specifications for all products used in pharmaceuticals are described (54,55). There are many flavor extracts for food use for which no official standards exist the properties of these are solely based on suitabiUty for commercial appHcations (56). 

Vanilla. Vanilla is the dried, cured, fuU-sized, but not fully ripe fmit pods (beans) of Vanillaplanifolia And. and V. tahitensis J. W. Moore (Orchidaceae). The vine is native to the tropical rain forests of southern Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and northern South America. Plantings were started in Madagascar, Reunion, Java, Mauritius, and Zanzibar in 1840. The Madagascar-type bean is stUl the most important, but Indonesia produces more than Malagasy. The stmcture of the flower prevents self-pollination and therefore, where insects are not prevalent, hand pollination is necessary. 

Aldehydes occur naturally in essential oils and contribute to the flavors of fruits and the odors of plants. Benzaldehyde, C6H5CHO (8), contributes to the characteristic aroma of cherries and almonds. Cinnamaldehvde (9) is found in cinnamon, and vanilla extract contains vanillin (10), which is present in oil of vanilla. Ketones can also be fragrant. For example, carvone (Section 18.1) is the essential oil of spearmint. 

These can be the natural material itself one example would be pieces of vanilla pod or an extract, e.g. vanilla extract. Extracts can be prepared in several ways. One is to distil or to steam distil the material of interest. Another is to extract the raw material with a solvent, e.g. ethyl alcohol. Alternatively, some materials are extracted by coating the leaves of a plant with cocoa butter and allowing the material of interest to migrate into the cocoa butter. These techniques are also used in preparing perfumery ingredients, indeed materials like orange oil are used in both flavours and perfumes. 

Aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids are widespread in plants and animal kingdom. They play an important role in biochemical processes of life. They add fragrance and flavour to nature, for example, vanillin (from vanilla beans), salicylaldehyde (from meadow sweet) and cinnamaldehyde (from cinnamon) have veiy pleasant fragrances. 

But why are NP-rich plants more expensive than commodity or crops Simply because, in contrast to the easily substitutable staple foods, the plants that produce highly attractive NPs usually have a much more limited geographical distribution. Consequently, there is less competition in the market place and substitution remains very difficult in most cases (e.g., there is no satisfactory synthetic coffee, tea or chocolate). Some of the NPs used in scents and flavours have been substituted with synthetic chemicals but even then many consumers were prepared to pay a premium for plant-derived flavouring (e.g., natural vs. synthetic vanilla). 

Vanilla is widely used in food, beverages and cosmetics. It is produced from the beans of Vanilla planifolia Andrews, a member of the orchid family (Orchi-daceae). The plant originates from Mexico where it was already used when the Spaniards arrived. Now it is cultured in various tropical countries, such as Madagascar, Indonesia, Uganda, Comoro, Tahiti, Papua Guinea, India and Mexico. Each of these growth sites yields vanilla with different flavour characteristics. 

Various experiments in Vanilla plant cell cultures, however, gave different results [14-18, 30, 51]. This might be due to the fact that different biosynthetic pathways operate in the beans and in the cell culture. In fact most of the work in cell cultures showed only conversion of non-glucosylated products. Ferulic acid feeding resulted in increased vanillin levels. The fact that the V. planifolia cell cultures do not produce vanillin in any significant amount means that the results from studies using vanilla cell cultures for elucidation of the pathway should be considered with caution. Finally, it cannot be excluded that different pathways may contribute to the vanillin production in the beans. Scheme 9.1 shows that vanillin can be formed through different ways in a complex network of compounds. 

Funk C, Brodelius P (1990c) Phenylpropanoid metabolism in suspension cultures of Vanilla planifolia Andr. Ill Conversion of 4-methoxycimnnamic acids into 4-hydroxybenzoic acids. Plant Physiol 94 102-108... 

Funk C, Brodelius P (1992) Phenylpropanoid metabolism in suspension cultures of Vanilla planifolia Andr. IV Induction of vanillinic acid formation. Plant Physiol 99 256-262 Funk C, Brodelius P (1994) Vanilla planifolia Andrews in vitro biosynthesis of vanillin and other phenylpropanoids derivatives. In Bajaj YPS (ed) Biotechnology in agriculture and forestry. Medicinal and aromatic plants VI, vol 26. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 377-402... 

Coumarin was first isolated by Vogel in 1820 by extraction from tonka beans (Dipteryx odorata). It was subsequently identified in a large number of plants belonging to many different families. Its better known occurrences are in sweet clover (Melilotus alba and M. officinalis), sweet woodruff (Asperula odorata), vanilla leaf (Trilisa odoratissima), vanilla beans (Vanillaplanifolia), cassia (Cinnamorum cassia), lavender (Lavendula officinalis) and balsam of Peru (Myroxylon pereirae) (Perone, 1972 Maries et al, 1987 Boisde Meuly, 1993 Budavari, 1998). 

It is not known how long vanilla has been used as a spice, but it dates back at least 1,000 years. The first known cultivators of vanilla were the Totonac people in the Veracruz region of Mexico, who regarded vanilla as a sacred plant and used it as a deodorant. The use of vanilla was acquired by the Aztecs after their invasion and interaction with the Totonacs. The Aztecs called vanilla tlibcochitl, which translates as black flower, a reference to the dark brown-black color of the dried pods after curing. Aztec royalty used vanilla to sweeten the bitter taste of their cocoa drink xocolatl and for medicinal purposes. The Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez... 

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