4 Mar 2010 --- Vanilla is one of the most universally used flavours in many industries, particularly the food industry.

Biocatalysts has launched Depol 40L a specially developed enzyme to aid the yielding and quality of the natural vanilla extract from vanilla pods. In addition to its macerating activity, Depol 40L contains a wide range of exo-glycosidase activities which are particularly useful in releasing active flavours from their bound inactive forms. This allows a more efficient extraction of valuable plant components, increasing the extracted yield of flavours. The enzyme hydrolyses the precursor glucovanillin to vanillin, which is the desired product.

The addition of enzymes to the extraction process can significantly improve the yield (2-4 fold) and quality of the vanilla extract, when compared to the natural curing process. The enzymes work primarily by macerating the tissues of the vanilla pods, breaking down the plant cell walls to release bound flavour compounds. Plant cells walls are highly complex structures containing interwoven strands of cellulose, xylan, pectin etc. Hence, successful degradation of the plant cell wall will require a cocktail of enzyme activities such as cellulase, xylanase, pectinase etc. rather than a single enzyme.

Glycosidases in particular have been shown to be useful in releasing flavour compounds. Depol 40L from Biocatalysts Ltd is a unique mixed carbohydrase enzyme which has been specially developed to aid the extraction of natural vanilla extracts from vanilla pods.

In addition to the macerating activities, Depol 40L contains a wide range of exo-glycosidases activities which are particularly useful in releasing active flavours from their bound inactive forms. This preparation allows a more efficient extraction of valuable plant components, increasing the extracted yield of flavours. It is active over a broad range of pH and temperatures. In particular the enzymes are capable of hydrolysing the precursor, glucovanillin, to vanillin, the desired product. Specific conditions will depend on the type of vanilla pods available, the processing equipment available and a variety of other factors. Biocatalysts recommend that customers should always run trials to determine the enzymes activity under their specific processing conditions.