With the continuous enrichment of people's cognition and consciousness, the mainstream phenomenon of society is also constantly changing, and "plant extract" has gradually become a keyword in the field of consumption in the 21st century. Plant extract means plant extract. It is mostly used to refer to the ingredients extracted from natural plants. It contains the concept of nature and health. Therefore, plant extract is widely used in daily chemicals, food, medicine and other fields, and its demand increasing day by day.

Rosemary is a dicotyledonous plant, labiatae, rosemary shrub, native to Europe and the Mediterranean coast of northern Africa. It likes warm climates and is a typical Mediterranean-type representative variety. Although there are many varieties of rosemary, the growth environment has an important influence on its growth and composition. Therefore, the planting scale in my country is still in the primary rising stage.

Modern research points out that rosemary extract contains a variety of active ingredients, has significant antibacterial and antioxidant effects, and is an important source of natural flavors, so rosemary is widely used in the food industry, flavor and antioxidant properties are also rosemary Two mature application directions of mary in the food industry.

natural flavor

Solid spice is the basis for the wide application of rosemary. Its fragrance is strong, fresh and transparent. It has a particularly sweet and pine-like smell and flavor. One of the seasonings, especially in steak, potatoes and other dishes and grilled products. For chicken, duck and fish meat, a small amount of rosemary powder is usually added after the dishes are cooked to enhance the taste; for roasted and marinated meat, the roasted meat has a special aroma after being marinated in advance with rosemary. ; Rosemary can also be used to make salad dressings or soaked in grape vinegar and eaten as a dip.

Rosemary oil is an effective means of preserving volatile components, especially for the preservation of aromas. The concentration of aroma components is high. Compared with the natural form, the smell is strong, clear and penetrating, showing a fresh herbal fragrance. It is currently commonly used in food spices. It is also an edible natural flavor approved by our country.

In addition, rosemary oil contains a variety of active ingredients and has a variety of physiological effects, "Modern Essential Oils" reported that high-quality rosemary essential oil has analgesic, antibacterial, anticancer, antifungal, anti-infective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and It is also one of the commonly used raw materials for health food, and has the dual functions of enhancing flavor and improving quality.

Antioxidants

Rosemary extract contains rosmarinic acid, carnosic acid and other caffeic acid derivatives, which can effectively

Stabilize free radicals and block the oxidation reaction chain, and are the main antioxidant substances. Rosemary extract is an antioxidant that can be used in my country. It mainly plays an antioxidant role in food. Its mechanism of action has two aspects:

First, the components such as rosmarinol, rosmarinic acid and carnosic acid in rosemary extract can replace the combination of oxygen free radicals and unsaturated fatty acids, thereby inhibiting the oxidation reaction of fat in meat;

Second, the phenolic substances in rosemary extract, such as rosemary phenol, can block the reaction chain between free radicals and unsaturated fatty acids by chelating metal ions and avoid lipid oxidation.

The range and dosage of rosemary

The degree of fat oxidation is an important factor in determining the quality of food. Excessive oxidation will produce bad flavor and discoloration. Rosemary extract can effectively prevent product oxidation and improve product stability. Adding rosemary extract to products has unique advantages:

1. Rosemary extract has a wide range of antioxidant properties, especially in poultry meat products. Under the influence of naturalization trend, rosemary extract is gradually replacing synthetic antioxidants to improve product quality.

2. Synergistic antioxidant effect with Isoascorbic Acid, erythorbic acid has antioxidant properties, but it can be used as both an antioxidant and a pro-oxidant, depending on its concentration, presence of metal ions and tocopherol content. When the amount of erythorbic acid was used, it did not show significant antioxidant activity, and when it was mixed with rosemary extract, the antioxidant activity was significantly improved. In terms of synergy, the results in different studies are different, and the synergy may be closely related to the component environment, which needs further research.

3. The protective effect of pigments. Nowadays, the use of pigments is becoming more and more natural. However, natural pigments are generally unstable, and color protection agents are often added to products. The rosemary extract has been proved to have a protective effect on pigments, and it can reduce the amount of color-preserving agents such as nitrite in meat products, which helps to improve product quality.

Antioxidant market demand is strong

Food antioxidant is an important food additive, which can prevent and delay the automatic oxidation of oil, thereby avoiding the discoloration, staleness and nutritional loss of food caused by oxidation. Food antioxidants can be divided into synthetic antioxidants and natural antioxidants according to their sources, and both have their own advantages and disadvantages in practical use.

Synthetic antioxidants have high stability, low cost, and are not sensitive to product processing conditions, but have low safety. Many studies have shown that synthetic antioxidants are potentially toxic to humans.

Natural antioxidants are natural ingredients extracted from animals and plants. They are safe, but not as stable and antioxidant as synthetic antioxidants. As people pay more and more attention to food safety, the use of synthetic antioxidants has become more and more strict. Antioxidants such as commonly used BHA, BHT and TBHQ have shown a trend of reduction in various countries. For example, TBHQ is not allowed in Japan, and BHA is also For use with palm oil and palm kernel oil only.

Driven by safety, the demand for natural antioxidants is increasing day by day. At present, 30% of antioxidants in the United States and Japan use natural antioxidants, mainly vitamin E and rosemary extract. Although the use of synthetic antioxidants in my country has not decreased, However, driven by the market, the market share of natural antioxidants is also gradually increasing. According to research data, from 2014 to 2016, the sales volume of China's natural food antioxidant industry was 9,900 tons, 13,300 tons, and 15,900 tons respectively. Natural antioxidants are used more frequently in food.

Rosemary extract is a safe and efficient antioxidant. Its antioxidant effect is 2-4 times that of BHA and BHT, and 1-2 times that of TBHQ. -2 times. The most important thing is that the chemical composition of rosemary extract is relatively stable, not easy to decompose, and can withstand high temperature of 190-240 ℃, which is the natural "savior" of high-temperature fried food.

On the whole, the role of rosemary extract in food is diverse, which can reduce unfavorable factors and improve product quality as a whole.

Rosemary extract can be said to be booming in the international market, and the global demand for rosemary antioxidants is about 50,000 tons. Domestic demand is also very strong, and its market demand is at least 10,000 tons.

However, the current production capacity in the world is seriously insufficient, which can only reach about 1,000 tons. There are only dozens of rosemary antioxidant manufacturers in China, with a total scale of no more than 100 tons, which is far from meeting the actual needs of the market. The future of things can be said to be a blue ocean.