Vanilla sources

The most important considerations in marketing and estabUshing a crop from a new source are constancy of supply and quahty. Eor some spices, it is difficult to reduce labor costs, as some crops demand individual manual treatment even if grown on dedicated plantations. Only the individual stigmas of the saffron flower must be picked cinnamon bark must be cut, peeled, and roUed in strips mature unopened clove buds must be picked by hand and orchid blossoms must be hand pollinated to produce the vanilla bean. 

Some of its inhabitants were even given the generic name of Indians Although this Spanish quest for spice led to the discovery of a very valuable source of gold and silver, and subsequently led to European colonisation of the newly discovered continent, it failed in its primary objective. But, as oudined below, centuries later some other important exploitable NPs (found in coca, quinine, capsicum, vanilla, tobacco and chocolate) were to come from this continent. 

Vanilla planifolia is the only orchid, which is used as spice plant. The plant has its origin in tropical Mexico, but today the main source of vanilla is the Malagasy Republic. 

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. 

Source Vanilla planifolia Jacks, (syn. V. fragrans auct.) (Orchidaceae). 

Vanillin has been known as a flavouring substance since about 1816, and by 1858 the pure chemical had been obtained from ethanolic extracts of vanilla beans. It was not until 1872 that Carles established its correct formulation and in 1874, Tiemann and Haarmann reported it as 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-benzaldehyde (Fig. 3.60). Finally, Reimer synthesized vanillin from guaiacol and thus proved its chemical structure. For many years, the most important source of vanillin was eugenol, from which it was obtained by oxidation. Today, the major portion of commercial vanillin is obtained by processing waste sulfite liquors, the rest through fully synthetic processes starting from guaiacol [21 ]. 

In such cases, determination of the ratio between the stable isotopes carbon-12 and carbon-13 may be a way to differentiate between different sources of botanical origin, reflecting differences in the CO2 assimilation pathways. This procedure has only been used with some degree of accuracy in a limited number of cases such as the distinction between vanillin from vanilla beans and vanillin from wood lignin. (14)... 

One simple test is to measure the level of radioactivity from the sample. Synthetic vanillin is not radioactive. However, natural vanilla, like all natural products, is. This is, of course, because atmospheric carbon dioxide contains some radioactive 14C formed by exposure to cosmic radiation in the upper atmosphere. Plants then incorporate this into their photosynthetic pathway and produce metabolites, which exhibit a low level of radioactivity. Synthetic vanillin is prepared from coal tar, which is not radioactive since the 14C has long since decayed. However, unscrupulous dealers know this and can synthesise radiolabelled or hot vanillin and dose it into synthetic material so that the level of radioactivity matches that of a natural sample. Another method of checking for naturalness must therefore be found. When plant enzymes synthesise molecules, they, like all catalysts, are susceptible to isotope effects. The vanilla plant is no exception and examination of the distribution of hydrogen and carbon isotopes in the vanillin molecule reveals that the heavier deuterium and 13C isotopes accumulate at certain specific sites. A suitable NMR spectrometer can determine the isotopic distribution in a sample and the cost of using 2H, 13C and 14C labelled synthetic materials to replicate the NMR spectra and radioactivity of natural vanillin in a synthetic sample would not be financially attractive. Furthermore, the 2H and 13C labelling patterns in the vanilla bean are different from those of other natural shikimate sources and so the NMR technique can also distinguish between vanillin from vanilla and vanillin produced by... 

Vanilla can also be extracted from plants other than Vanilla planifolia, such as potato peels and pine tree sap. The most economical source of the product, however, is waste material left over from the wood pulp industry. That waste material consists primarily of lignin, a complex natural polymer that, along with cellulose, is the primary component of wood. The wastes from wood pulping can be treated to break down and separate the lignin. This leaves behind a complex... 

Vanilla became known in Europe following Cotters conquest of the Aztec kingdom in 1519. Many centuries earlier, vanilla was a source of flavoring and used... 

With a characteristic aroma of bitter almond oil and a typical sweet cherry taste, benzaldehyde is widely used as an important ingredient for creating cherry, peach, vanilla, chocolate, and many other flavors. Benzaldehyde can be produced from botanical sources such as cinnamon, cassia, bitter almonds, pits of apricot, peaches, plums, and cherries, or from petroleum products such as toluene. 

An essential requirement of ice cream products is that they taste appealing. The flavours used in ice cream manufacture are usually supplied as solutions of aroma and taste compounds. Some flavour molecules are fat soluble, whereas others are water soluble. This affects the perception of flavour in ice cream water-soluble flavours are present in the matrix and are released rapidly on consumption, whereas fat-soluble flavours are released more slowly. Flavours may be natural, i.e. extracted from sources such as plants, or synthetic. The latter can be nature identical (artificially produced but identical to the naturally occurring form) or artificial (artificially produced and not occurring in nature). They are used to impart flavour to products, to enhance inherent flavours and to ensure uniformity of flavour between batches. Fruit acids, such as citric or malic acid are added to fruit flavoured water ice products to give them extra bite , by making them sour. The three most important ice cream flavours are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. 

Many extracts are based chemically on the benzene ring, a class of often fragrant compounds which have come to be called aromatics as a consequence. They include benzaldehyde, which smells like almonds, and vanillin, the basis of vanilla. Camphor oil (8008-51-3) is the essential oil removed from the camphor tree. It contains camphor, as well as many other compounds. Camphor may also be extracted from other natural sources, but usually in smaller quantities. Vegetable extracts usually contain terpenes (CjoHig), a class of flammable hydrocarbons based on the isoprene unit (C5H8). 

Our standard control in these studies is vanilla extract in water. The control generally elicits a low level of interest, mainly sniffs and checks. We interpret this as interest in an odor source but not one with a meaningful signal (i.e., with evolutionarily evolved meaning). Female Asian elephants often show about the same interest in luteal urine as our control. However, luteal urine does evoke place and flehmen response on occasion, whereas, the control does not (Slade et al., 2003). Luteal urine probably contains cues on sender identity, but chemicals either specific to or more abundant in follicular urine reveal reproductive readiness. 

For many centuries, Central America provided the only source of vanilla, because In other places the plant s natural pollinator, the mellpona bees and hummingbirds, are not Indigenous. From 1841 onwards, however, artificial pollination was developed, so that vanilla could also be cultivated In Africa and the West Indies. 

The best variety is Bourbon vanilla or Mexican vanilla, which is native to Central and South America. Next to this is Tahiti vanilla Vanilla tahitensis), which grows in Oceania. The most important sources of vanilla are Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, Reunion, Mexico, Uganda and French Polynesia. [138]... 

The world-wide demand for vanillin amounts to 15,000-16,000 tonnes annually. Its main customer is the flavoms industry, which accounts for 84% 13 % find application in drug preparation e.g. (L)-DOPA and papaverine), but only 3 % in perfumery. With a price of 10-15 Emo per kilogram, the market is worth around 180 million Euro per annmn. Only 20-40 tonnes of vanillin come directly from natural sources. [153, 157] This corresponds approximately to 1,500-2,000 tonnes of dried vanilla pods. 

Similarly to vanillin, the menthol needs of the world caimot be met from natural sources. However, the synthesis of menthol is less critical, as menthol-producing plants, unlike vanilla, are easy to grow. Synthetic (-)-menthol, identical to the substance found in natural sources but more demanding to produce than vanillin, accounts for about 30 % of the world production, which is 12,0001 a year. 

Vanillin (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde), the principal component of vanilla, occurs in vanilla beans and other natural sources as a /3-D-glucopyranoside. Draw a structural formula for this glycoside, showing the D-glucose unit as a chair conformation. 

Comparative Profiles of Vanilla from Different Sources... 

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