It is well known that distillation methods fail to obtain the flavour compounds from vanilla beans.
Thus the standard vanilla extract widely available is the hydroalcoholic 10-fold extract, a term which might be misleading since this product represents the extract of 1kg cured beans in 1 litre hydroalcoholic solution. The drug/extract ratio is therefore 1/1 and the vanillin content resembles that of the beans, ie 1.8per cent. If vanilla beans are extracted with supercritical carbon dioxide the rare situation is found that the extract is obtained in form of two distinct phases. One is a viscous liquid composed by vanilla lipids rich in top notes and saturated with vanillin, the vanillin content being 12per cent on the average. The beans surplus vanillin is recovered in the second phase resulting in a product with 95percent vanillin content. This is crystalline and still has a very strong impact of vanilla beans in contrast to pure vanillin which is different in character. If both products are combined in the ratio of their yields, a third product can be created with about 25per cent vanillin that represents the complete CO2 extract of the vanilla beans. All three CO2 vanilla extracts are concentrated products reflecting the natural vanilla flavour profile. The strength of aroma does not directly correlate to the vanillin content and a dosage of 5-10g/100kg end product is in most cases sufficient to develop the vanilla flavour. The CO2 vanilla extracts are kosher certified and preferred to alcoholic extracts in many applications.
enquiry no 53
Flavex Naturextrakte GmbH is based in Rehlingen, Germany. www.flavex.com
