Method of frying foods in the presence of a spice antioxidant

A method for producing fried foods, comprising the steps of:

• adding an antioxidant to a frying oil;
• adding an additive to said frying oil and/or to a foodstuff, said additive being present in an amount of 1-100 parts by weight per 1-10 parts by weight of said antioxidant in the frying oil, said additive being selected from the group consisting of a mixture of dihydroxyacetone and amino acid, quercetin, miso peptide, casein peptide, and phytic acid;
• and
• frying the foodstuff in said frying oil at 100.degree.-250.degree. C.;
• said antioxidant being added to said frying oil in an amount of 0.001-0.2% by weight and being obtained by (a) subjecting a starting material, selected from the group consisting of a herb family spice selected from sage and rosemary, residue obtained after the recovery of essential oils from said herb family spice, oleoresins obtained from the extraction of said herb family spice with a polar solvent, and oleoresins and extracted residues obtained from the extraction of said herb family spice with a non-polar solvent, to an extraction treatment with a polar solvent to obtain an extractive, (b) decoloring the extractive with an adsorbent, (c) concentrating the extractive after separation of said adsorbent, (d) pouring the concentrate into ten times by weight or more of water to obtain an aqueous dispersion, (e) steam distilling the aqueous dispersion to produce a steam distilled residue, and then (f) recovering an insoluble part from the steam distilled residue.