Attokaran M. Natural Food Flavors and Colorants

Introduction

Tarragon, also called “ dragon ’ s - wort, ” does not have a long history. It was Ibr Baithar,

a botanist and medical man from Arabia, who ﬁ rst drew attention in the thirteenth

century to its ﬁ ne ﬂ avor qualities. Later, the French made use of this herb in their

cookery. It is also the ﬂ avor of a carbonated beverage popular in Russia and nearby

countries such as Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine.

Plant Material

Tarragon was originally cultivated commercially in Russia but later spread to Southern

European countries, Asia, and North America. The Russian variety is considered

harsher, while the French is more delicately ﬂ avored.

Tarragon is a perennial shrub. It assumes a height of 1 – 1.5 m in height with slender

and many - branched stems. It has bright green leaves, which are lanceolate, 3 – 8 cm in

length and 2 – 6 cm in breadth. The ﬂ owers are 2 – 4 mm in diameter and grown in

clusters of thirty to forty. The tiny ﬂ owers have a greenish - yellow to light yellow color.

The plant is propagated by root cuttings or division.

Dried tarragon herb has 24% protein, 45% carbohydrate, 7% fat, and 7% ﬁ ber. It

has minerals, small amounts of vitamin A, and some B vitamins.

Essential Oil

References to tarragon oil are sparse. The oil is pale yellow with a greenish tint. The

dried leaves of tarragon yield the essential oil, at 0.3 – 1.3% (Prakash 1990 ). Methyl

chavicol is its main constituent (Pruthi 1976 ), though phellandrene and ocimene are

also present.

Physical characteristics of the volatile oil are as follows.

Optical rotation + 2 to + 9 °

Refractive index 1.5028 – 1.5160 at 20 ° C

Speciﬁ c gravity 0.9 to 0.981 at 15 ° C

Solubility in alcohol 1 mL dissolves in 6 mL of 80% alcohol

α - Pinene, camphene, β - pinene, limonene, cis - and trans - ocimene, methyl chavicol,

p - methoxy cinnamaldehyde, 4 - carene, α - phellandrene, and linalool have been reported

Tarragon

Artemisia dracunculus L ( Compositae )

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378 Individual Flavors and Colorants

in the volatile oil (Thieme and Tarn 1972 ). Using GC - MS, Vestrowsky et al . (1981)

have found a large number of terpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated derivatives. The

major ones are sabinene (38.81%), methyl chavicol (17.26%), and methyl eugenol

(28.87%). However, in Russian tarragon oil, the identiﬁ ed compounds are elemicin,

trans - isoelemicin, eugenol, methyl eugenol, and trans - methyl isoeugenol (Brass et al.

1983 ). Some analyses have reported that methyl chavicol is present at levels of over

70% (Prakash 1990 ).

Extraction with hexane yields an oleoresin, which is a viscous liquid with dark

green color. The volatile oil content depends on the raw material and can range

between 8% and 16%. Both the volatile oil and oleoresin containing volatile oil have

an anise - like odor typical of the herb.

Uses

Tarragon is considered to be a ﬁ ne ﬂ avor in French cuisine. It is used in meat, ﬁ sh,

and egg preparations. Fresh tarragon herb is also used for ﬂ avoring vinegar used in

cooking.

Tarragon is an excellent ﬂ avor for a number of vegetable preparations, meats,

sauces, and soups. The extractives are an ideal ﬂ avoring additive if the above items

are made into processed food. Volatile oil is very convenient in the production of tar-

ragon vinegar.

References

Brass , M. ; Mildan , G. ; and Jork , H. 1983 . Neue substanzen and Esterischen Oelen Verchiedener Artemisia

species 5 Milt Elemicin Sowie Weitre Phenyl propen - Derivate . GIT Suppl . 3 , 35 – 42 (cf. Prakash 1990).

Prakash , V. 1990 . Leafy Spices . Boston : CRC Press , pp. 95 – 98 .

Pruthi , J.S. 1976 . Spices and Condiments . New Delhi : National Book Trust , pp. 220 – 221 .

Thieme , H. ; and Tarn , N.T. 1972 . Accumulation and composition of essential oils in Satueria hortensis ,

Satueria montana and Artemisia drecunculus . Pharmazie 27 , 255 – 265 ( Chem. Abstr. 77 :58851).

Vestrowsky , O. ; Michaelis , K. ; Ihm , H. ; Zitland , R. ; and Knoblock , K. 1981 . Uber die Komponenton des

Actherischen Oels and Esteragon ( Artemisia dracunculus L) . Z . Lebensm. Unters. Forsch. 173 , 365 – 367

(cf. Prakash 1990).

Introduction

Tea is a plant product consisting of the leaves and bud of a plant also called tea. Tea

is often consumed as a hot brew. It is believed that after plain water, tea is the most

consumed beverage in the world. While there are many specialized varieties, the most

important ones are green and black tea.

Tea originated in Southeast Asia, at the point of conﬂ uence of Northeast India,

North Burma, Southwest China, and Tibet. From there, the plant has been introduced

to more than 50 countries. The Chinese have been using green tea as a beverage for

many thousands of years. Green tea is popular in other Asian countries such as Japan,

Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Assam in India developed black tea by introducing a step of fermentation followed

by a heat treatment, during which dark pigments are formed. The same process is

followed in South India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. The British were instrumental in the

development of black tea. It was also in India that high - altitude tea known for its

strong aroma was developed, mainly in Darjeeling in Northeast India and Nilgiris in

South India. In recent years, Africa and South America have started to produce tea in

signiﬁ cant quantities.

Importation of tea into England started in the mid - seventeenth century. Although

Americans drink coffee more, tea is also popular in the United States. The Boston Tea

Party was an act of deﬁ ance by the American colonists on new taxation proposals by

the British. On December 16, 1773, American citizens threw crates of British East

India Company tea from ships into the Boston Harbor.

Plant Material

Tea is an evergreen plant growing mainly in tropical and subtropical regions. The

plant, if allowed, can grow to a tree with a height of 9 – 15 m. For convenience in

harvesting leaves, it is pruned and maintained at a height of around 1 m. The leaves

are simple and alternate, and have a shape of elliptic - ovate or lanceolate with a ser-

rated border. It is usually glabrous and leathery (Warrier 1994 ). It has white ﬂ owers,

which grow in groups of one to four and have some fragrance. The fruits are depressed,

three - cornered capsules with three seeds.

The plant requires about 125 cm of rainfall annually. High - quality tea grows best

at elevations up to 1500 m. At high elevations, plant growth is uniform and slow, which

Tea

Camellia sinensis L ( Theaceae )

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380 Individual Flavors and Colorants

encourages formation of a good aroma. The young leaves and bud, constituting

3 – 5 mm of plant material, are called ﬂ ushes. Only ﬂ ushes are picked as raw material

for tea. During harvesting time, a plant will grow a new ﬂ ush every 7 – 10 days.

Chemistry

Both black tea and green tea contain around 3% caffeine, an alkaloid that stimulates

the central nervous system upon consumption. Tea also has other related xanthine

alkaloids such as theobromine, theophylline, xanthine, and dimethyl xanthine. For the

structure of caffeine, see Chapter 41 on coffee.

Although tea leaves have some carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and small amounts of

vitamins, the characteristic group of compounds of the tea leaves are polyphenols,

which are responsible for its astringent taste. In recent years, polyphenols have gained

importance as a valuable antioxidant that can help people to maintain health and

prevent diseases caused by oxidative damage to cells. The most important of these is

( – )epigallocatechin gallate, which accounts for around 10% of 25 – 30% of total poly-

phenols. Others present are ( – )epicatechin gallate, ( – )epigallocatechin, ( – )epicatechin,

( + )catechin, and ( + )gallocatechin. It also has some ﬂ avonols, leucoanthocyanidins,

free amino acids, and organic acids.

From the pioneering work of E.A.H. Roberts in the 1950s and 1960s, we have a

fair understanding of tea ’ s polyphenol makeup and the changes that occur during black

tea manufacture. The phenolics are ﬁ rst converted to orthoquinones by the action of

polyphenolase present. Subsequent reactions during the ﬁ ring end in the formation of

bisﬂ avonols and theaﬂ avin, and subsequent development of dark - colored thearubigins,

which contribute to the color of black tea. Recently, ethyl pyrrolidinonyl teasinensin

A, a new polyphenol having N - ethyl - 2 - pyrrolidinone moiety, has been isolated from

black tea (Takashi et al . 2005 ).

The taste of black tea is a combined effect of polyphenols, amino acids, caffeines,

theaﬂ avins, and thearubigins. For aroma, some of the simple oxygenated terpenes,

esters, alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones are important. For green tea, the taste is pri-

marily astringency caused by different catechins, including epigallocatechin gallate,

which is also recognized as a valuable antioxidant in green tea.

The volatile oil of green tea has been studied using GC - MS, and several compounds

have been reported, among them linalool, geraniol, citronellol (Yang et al. 2002 ),

4 - methyl - 1 - (1 - methyl ethyl) - 3 - cyclohexan - 1 - ol, 1 - methyl - 4 - (1 - methyl ethyl) - 1,

4 - cyclohexadiene, eucalyptol, and ( + ) - 4 - carene (Liang et al. 2003 ).

Extractives

Instant tea or soluble tea is made by hot - water extraction of either black or green tea.

Instant tea is used as a convenient form to make the hot beverage. But it is also valu-

able for making cold tea drinks. Since the temperature is low, the extractives should

be cold water - soluble. This is carried out in black tea by ﬁ rst making an aqueous

extract and then wintering at 5 ° C to remove sediments by ﬁ ltering, using an appropri-

ate nylon ﬁ lter cloth of 100 – 250 micron, or by using a super centrifuge. The extract

can be made into a spray - dried powder.

95 Tea 381

In the case of green tea, blackening during extraction may occur. To prevent this,

fresh green tea is simultaneously steamed and squeezed in a screw press to obtain a

blanched extract in which enzymes are killed. For use in cold beverages, the extract

is chilled to 5 ° C to precipitate sediments. This is then passed through a super centri-

fuge to remove heavier particles. The product can be spray - dried.

One of the major uses of green tea extractives is as a beverage rich in antioxidants.

For this purpose, extraction can be carried out using 50% aqueous ethyl alcohol. It

also requires winterization to remove sediments. The extract freed of alcohol is chilled

to 5 ° C and ﬁ ltered. The clear extract is either spray - dried or preserved by adding

alcohol so that its strength is 20 – 25% of the liquid.

Uses

Tea is one of the most popular hot beverages. Spray - dried extracts are used in cold

drinks such as lemon tea. It is also used in some alcoholic beverages, frozen dairy

desserts, candy, baked goods, and puddings (Leung and Foster 1996 ).

Green tea is now recognized as a nutraceutical with antioxidant properties; there-

fore, tea extract is used in health foods.

Identiﬁ cation Numbers

FEMA No. CAS US/CFR E - No.

Tea extract (including absolute) – 84650 - 60 - 2 182.20 –

Caffeine 2224 58 - 08 - 2 182.1180 –

References

Leung , Albert Y. ; and Foster , Steven . 1996 . Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients . New York : John

Wiley and Sons , pp. 489 – 492 .

Liang , Zhenyi ; Luo , Shengxu ; and Feng , Yuhong . 2003 . Study of chemical constituents of the essential oil

from Camella sinensis . Tianran Chanwu Yanjiu Yu Kaifa 15 ( 5 ), 423 – 425 (Chinese) ( Chem. Abstr.

143 :382798).

Takashi , Tanaka ; Sayaka , Watarumi ; Miho , Fujieda ; and Isao Kouno . 2005 . New black tea polyphenol

having N - ethyl - 2 - pyrrolidone moiety derived from tea amino acid theanine: isolation, characterization

and partial synthesis . Food Chem. 93 ( 1 ), 81 – 87 .

Warrier , P.K. 1994 . Indian Medical Plants . Madras : Orient Longman .

Yang , Xiao - Hong ; Liu , Hai - Bo ; and Jiang , Ke . 2002 . GC/MS analysis of the chemical constituents of vola-

tile oil from Hubei Changyang green tea . Wuhan Huagong Xueyuan Xuebao 23 ( 3 ), 23 – 26 ( Chem. Abstr.

138 :319892).

Introduction

The dried leaves and ﬂ owering top of Thymus vulgaris form the herb known as thyme.

There are many members of the Thymus family that ﬁ nd use as ﬂ avoring in some

regions, but their production and use are limited.

Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming. Ancient Greeks felt that thyme was

symbolic of bravery and used it in their baths and as incense in their places of worship.

Romans also revered it as a puriﬁ er and used it to ﬂ avor specialty foods such as

cheeses and alcoholic beverages. In the Middle Ages, Europeans believed that keeping

a sprig of thyme nearby while one slept helped to prevent nightmares. Women used

to consider it a privilege to hand over a small branch of thyme to warriors to help

them face battles with courage. Dioscorides, the Greek physician, believed thyme

could help clear the throats of people affected by asthma.

Plant Material

Thyme is of Eastern origin, from countries such as China and Indonesia. It is now

cultivated in Europe, North Africa, Australia, North America, China, and Russia.

The best conditions for its growth are warm, sunny weather and well - drained soil.

Propagation can be through seeds, cuttings, or by division of the root. The plant has

the ability to withstand freezing intervals and even some drought conditions.

Thyme is a perennial creeping shrub. It does not grow to a great height, generally

less than half a meter. It has pale branches and narrow sessile leaves. Purple ﬂ owers

appear in clusters.

Fresh thyme is sold as a sprig consisting of a small twig of woody stem with paired

leaves and a cluster of small ﬂ owers. The leaves and ﬂ owering tops are used as a fresh

leafy spice. But the whole aerial part, after drying, becomes the herb, which is the

raw material for extractives. On analysis, dry herb shows 7% proteins, 5% fat, 44%

carbohydrates, and 24% ﬁ ber. It has minerals, vitamin A, ascorbic acid, and B

vitamins.

Essential Oil

Thyme herb on size reduction and steam distillation yields 2 – 3% of essential oil.

The oil is a colorless, yellow, or yellowish - red mobile liquid with the characteristic

Thyme

Thymus vulgaris L ( Labiatae )

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Natural Food Flavors and Colorants Mathew Attokaran

384 Individual Flavors and Colorants

pleasant odor of the herb and a mildly pungent, persistent taste. The volatile oil is also

described as a pale yellowish - red liquid with a rich, aromatic, warming, herbaceous

odor, yielding a sweet, phenolic, somewhat medicinal sensation on evaporation (Farrell

1990 ). The taste is described as warm, spicy, full - bodied, and herbaceous.

Several analyses have been carried out in recent years on thyme from different

regions. The results given in Table 96.1 show that the main constituents are thymol,

carvacrol, and p - cymene.

A study of European thyme (Raal et al . 2005 ) showed that thymol dominates in oils

from Holland (65.5%) and Estonia (75.7%). Greek oil has a lot of carvacrol. Armanian

oil has lower thymol content (17.0%), but is rich in neral and citronellol (32.5%),

borneol (4.3%), citronellal (4.0%), 1,8 - cineole (4.0%), methyl eugenol, and thymol

acetate (7.5%). Brazilian oil has been noted to have 39 constituents, representing

95.1% of the oil, of which 28 have been identiﬁ ed (Porte and Godoy 2008 ). A sample

from Yugoslavia showed antimicrobial activity (Sakovic et al . 2009 ). Further studies

of the composition of thyme oil collected from Italy and Germany and those produced

in Lithuania, Brazil, Jordan, and Cuba were compiled by Lawrence (2008) . Gamma

irradiation or e - beam ionization is found to have no effect on the oil composition.

According to the FCC, thyme oil is a colorless, yellow, or red liquid with thyme ’ s

characteristic pleasant odor and pungent, persistent taste. It is soluble in alcohol, in

propylene glycol, and in most ﬁ xed oils.

Physical characteristics as deﬁ ned by the FCC are as follows.

Optical rotation − 3 ° to − 0.1 °

Refractive index 1.495 – 1.505 at 20 ° C

Speciﬁ c gravity 0.915 – 0.935

Solubility 1 mL dissolves in 2 mL of 80% alcohol

Thymol is the main characteristic constituent of the oil, with a melting point

between 49 and 51 ° C. Thymol occurs as a white crystal soluble in water, alcohol,

propylene glycol, and most vegetable oils.

Oleoresins

Commercial extraction of powdered, dry thyme with hexane gives an oleoresin with

2.5% yield. The volatile oil content is 35 – 40%, though this can be diluted to the

Table 96.1. Analysis of thyme oil from different regions

Reference Mirza and

Baher 2003

Asllani and

Toska 2003

Raal et al.

2005

Porte and

Godoy 2008

Sakovic

et al. 2009

Jaafari

et al. 2007

Region Iran Albanian Europe Brazil Yugoslavia Morocco

Thymol % 39.1 21.38 – 60.15 0.9 – 75.7 44.7 48.9 42

Carvacrol – 1.5 – 3.04 1.5 – 83.5 – – 85

β - Caryophellene 11.1 1.3 – 3.07 0.5 – 9.3 – – –

p - Cymene 10.5 7.76 – 43.75 4.3 – 34.4 18.6 19.0 23

Terpinen - 4 - ol Traces to 3.8

γ - Terpinene 4.2 – 27.62 0.9 – 19.7 16.6

96 Thyme 385

speciﬁ cations of the customer. Thyme oleoresin is a yellowish - brown, viscous liquid

with an herbal odor typical of the herb and with a spicy ﬂ avor with mild bitterness.

Thyme oleoresin is also described as dark green to brown, somewhat viscous, and

at times semisolid, with an oil content of 50% v/w (Farrell 1990 ).

Uses

Creole and French cuisine use thyme; for processed foods of this type, the oleoresin

is convenient. Thyme is also used in salad croutons, fried chicken, poultry stufﬁ ng,

and dressings (Farrell 1990 ). It can blend well in specialty sauces, soups, and prepara-

tions of meat, vegetables, and seafood.

Thymol, the main ingredient in thyme oil, has use in medicines and cosmetics.

Thymol is also used in beverages, soups, baked goods, and confectionery.

Identiﬁ cation Numbers

FEMA No. CAS US/CFR E - No.

Thyme oil 3064 8007 - 46 - 3 182.20 –

84929 - 51 - 1

Thyme extract – 8007 - 46 - 3 182.20 –

Thymol 3066 89 - 83 - 8 172.515 –

References

Asllani , Uran ; and Toska , Vilma . 2003 . Chemical compositions of Albanian thyme oil ( Thymus vulgaris

L) . J. Essent. Oil Res. 15 ( 3 ), 165 – 167 .

Farrell , Kenneth T. 1990 . Spices, Condiments and Seasonings , 2nd editon . New York : Chapman and Hall ,

pp. 199 – 203 .

Jaafari , Abdeslam ; Ait Mouse , Hassan ; Rakib , El - Mostapha ; Ait Mbarek , Lehcen ; Tilaoui , Mounir ;

Benbakhta , Chouaib ; Boulli , Abdelali ; Abbad , Aziz ; and Zyad , Abdelmajid . 2007 . Chemical composition

and antitumor activity of different wild varieties of Moroccan thyme . Rev. Bras. Farmacogn. 17 ( 4 ),

477 – 491 ( Chem. Abstr. 150 :437850).

Lawrence , Brian M. 2008 . Progress in essential oils . Perfumer Flavorist 33 ( 5 ), 58 – 64 .

Mirza , M. ; and Baher , Z.F. 2003 Chemical composition of essential oil from Thymus vulgaris hybrid .

J. Essent. Oil Res . 15 ( 6 ), 404 – 405 .

Porte , Alexandre ; and Godoy , Ronoel L.O. 2008 . Chemical composition of Thymus vulgaris L (thyme)

essential oil from Rio de Janeiro State (Brazil) . J. Serbian Chem. Soc. 73 ( 3 ), 307 – 310 .

Raal , A ; Arak , E. ; and Orav , A. 2005 . Analysis of chemical composition of essential oil in the herb of thyme

( Thymus vulgaris L) grown in S.E. Poland . Herba Polonica 51 ( 1/2 ), 10 – 17 ( Chem. Abstr. 146 :23569).

Sakovic , Marina D. ; Vukojevic , Jelena ; Marin , Petar D. ; Brkic , Dejan D. ; Vajs , Vlatka ; and Van Griensven ,

Leo J.L.D. 2009 . Chemical composition of essential oils of Thymus and Mentha species and their anti-

fungal activities . Molecules 14 ( 1 ), 238 – 249 ( Chem. Abstr. 150 :232668).

Attokaran M. Natural Food Flavors and Colorants

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