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Online ISSN: xxxx-xxxx | Print ISSN: xxxx-xxxx
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Volume 2 Number 4 April 2020
OPTIMAL DESIGN OF THE WATER SPECIES CONTRIBUTING TO THE MAILLARD REACTION MECHANISM IN LEEK AND CABBAGE DRYINGS
Pages: 25-32Authors: Yasuyuki KONISHI, Masayoshi KOBAYASHI*
Abstract
In order to design an optimal drying process for agricultural products, the dynamism of the Maillard reaction was quantitatively evaluated by using the leek (LK) and cabbage (CB) drying processes. The necessity to solve the problems both the extremely complicated mechanism of the Maillard reaction brings us to focus on the simplification of the complicated reaction networks and a role of the active water species involved in the agricultural products contributing to the reaction networks. For the reaction mechanism simplification, both a dehydration step of the reaction networks was focused and the color change step of its nonenzymatic browning reaction (Maillard reaction) was effectively used. A typical consecutive reaction model A?B?C (the rate constants are ka and kb ,respectively), where A was glucose-like materials contained in the LK and the CB, B was intermediates formed, and C was melanoidin-like materials as final products, was considered. The first reaction step was replaced by the dehydration reaction step of the LK and CB and the second step was replaced by the final material production step of the browning reaction. The relative humidity (RH) and the glucose (GC) were usefully employed as the modifiers (M1 and M2, respectively) each of which could regulate the character of the active water species formed on the LK and CB. The formed water species sensitively changed the values of ka and kb. The computer simulation of the reaction networks reconfirmed the validity of the simplified reaction model proposed. The amount of the reaction intermediates evaluated by the computer simulation was reconfirmed to be one of the important parameters for the optimum design of the drying processes. The experimental results obtained demonstrated that M1 and M2 could be used as a useful tool to design the optimum drying processes to produce the good taste products.
