Enzyme-Assisted Process for Production of Superior Quality Vanilla Extracts from Green Vanilla Pods Using Tea Leaf Enzymes

Vanilla planifolia Andrews is a perennial tropical
vine and is an orchid grown for its pleasant flavor. There is
an increasing trend world over for using natural flavors.
Vanilla being an important food flavoring ingredient, the
demand for natural vanilla extract is increasing. Hence, the
aim of the present study was to prepare vanilla extract from
green beans without going through the elaborate and timeconsuming
conventional curing process. Vanilla beans after
size reduction were mixed in a suitable proportion with tea
leaf enzyme extract (TLEE) and incubated to facilitate
action of enzymes on vanilla flavor precursors. The beans
mix was squeezed, and the filtrate was treated with ethanol
to extract the vanilla flavor. TLEE-treated extracts had
higher vanillin content (4.2%) compared to Viscozyme
extract (2.4%). Also, it had higher intensity of vanilla
flavor, sweet, and floral notes. Further, electronic nose
analysis confirmed the discrimination between extracts. It
was concluded that the use of TLEE is very much useful to
obtain higher yield of vanilla extract and superior quality
vanilla flavor, which avoids the traditional laborious and
time-consuming curing process.