Vanilla is a plant that emits a unique fragrance, usually used for seasoning, spices, and essential oils. It also has some medicinal value. The vanillin produced in the food industry is mainly used as a flavor enhancer in ice cream, soft drinks, chocolate, roasted confectionery and alcohol. It is also used as a food preservative for sausages and seasonings. In the cosmetics industry, As a flavor component used in perfume and creams; in the chemical industry, as defoamers, vulcanizing agents and chemical precursors; in the pharmaceutical industry, as a mask odor of the agent. Recently, it has been reported that vanillin has a certain antioxidant and prevent the role of cancer, and can also participate in bacterial cell signaling.
However, for two or three hundred years ago the European aristocracy, the vanilla is still a rare exotic (native to Mexico) stunner. Today, vanilla is seen everywhere in our daily life, and it may be one of the people's favorite scents. But in fact, less than 1% of the vanilla is pure natural material, extracted from vanilla. In 2015, a group of large food companies led by Nestlé announced that it would only use natural herbs in US products, and its supply would be significantly inadequate.
Contains a variety of gourmet foods
In recent years, the annual production of vanillin is 18,000 metric tons, but 85% is synthesized from petrochemical products guaiacol, and the remaining 15% comes from lignin. And consumer appeal for natural food, no doubt promoted the revival of natural vanilla. But the growing demand can not rewrite the fact that natural vanilla production is reduced (in 2015, the main origin of vanilla - Madagascar's production fell by half compared with the same period), scientists had another way.
Over the past decade, scientists have been committed to the spruce lignin in the pineal alcohol, rice bran ferulic acid and other substances by microbial fermentation to produce vanillin. Some wine in the birch bucket in the longer the more fragrant, because the birch contains a called "pine and cypress alcohol" organic compounds, it is under the action of the enzyme oxidation, the formation of vanillin. The ferulic acid was originally found in the seeds and leaves of the plant, a phenolic acid widely found in the plant, in the cell wall with the polysaccharide and protein binding into the cell wall skeleton. In 2005, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Institute of Biocatalysis, Institute of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, discovered that Aspergillus niger could transform ferulic acid into vanillic acid, while Staphylococcus aureus could transform vanillic acid into vanillin. The combination of two microbes, the effective conversion of ferulic acid to vanillin. And eugenol naturally exists in a variety of essential oils, of which, clove oil, clove basil oil, bay leaf oil content of the highest, camphor oil, ylang ylang, violet oil and acacia oil are present. Can be through the sodium dichromate (or potassium permanganate) as the oxidant chemical reaction, but also through Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas and other microbial synthesis of the way, the eugenol into vanillin.
Can be transformed into different substances of vanillin
However, the above methods of these biosynthesis are all faced with problems such as low reaction efficiency, by-products, or toxic by-products, poor conversion efficiency. The route of biosynthesis of vanillin is still long. At present, food companies may not only face the plight of vanilla in short supply, more likely to suffer more discerning customer complaints. It can be said that each batch of vanilla beans produce the taste of vanilla is not the same, then, in the large-scale food processing how to maintain the delicious taste before? Shouting natural organic consumers are willing to bear the possibility of not appear it?
Natural food is a long-lasting, multi-contest game. Do food companies want to disclose all ingredients? Refused to guaiacol, to microbial synthesis of vanillin; and in order to improve the conversion rate in some enzymes, genes on their brains, will not let people fall into the panic of genetic engineering?
We need to use time to verify, waiting for all the dust settled in the moment. And in the final answer before the announcement, can only look at the natural herbal bumper harvest, the food company developed a highly efficient vanillin biosynthesis method, food companies in other production processes to reduce the finished product, or we may need to do a good job to deal with vanilla prices get ready.