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US 6,187,356 B1Granted
Debittering of olive oil
AssigneeUnilever Patent Holdings B.V.
InventorsJan van Buuren, Albertje Johanna Knoops, Karel P A M van Putte, Hessel Turksma, Michael Gude, Williams Andreas de Groot
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Process for debittering olive oil comprising the exposure of olive oil which contains bitter polyphenols for at least 30 seconds to a finely dispersed aqueous phase, preferably consisting of hard drinking water, of which the pH is at least 5.5.
Claims12
A process for treating olive oil so as to debitter the oil which comprises the following steps:
- a. preparing an emulsion of olive oil with an aqueous phase which is free from any substantial amount of debittering enzyme;
- b. exposing the olive oil to the dispersed aqueous phase for at least 30 seconds;
- and
- c. removing the aqueous phase from the olive oil, where the emulsified aqueous phase is maintained at a pH of at least 5.5 for at least 30 seconds of the exposure time whereupon bitter components in said oil are rendered less bitter.
1 more element
A process for treating olive oil in order to reduce the bitterness thereof which comprises:
- a. mixing the olive oil to be treated with water which is essentially free from debittering enzyme, so as to form an aqueous emulsion of the olive oil;
- b. maintaining said emulsion at a pH of at least 5.5 for at least 30 seconds sufficient to convert bitter polyphenols in the oil to less bitter polyphenols and thereafter;
- removing the water from the oil.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.