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  • From: Lorri Mason <lorrimason AT gmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Black Garlic Recipe2
  • Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:16:35 -0500

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6146638/description.html
 
 
TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a fermented garlic composition, a process for producing the same, and a food and a drug containing the same.

BACKGROUND ART

Since ancient times, garlic has been consumed as a seasoning or spice. In recent years, garlic has been found to contain a variety of physiologically active components, and therefore, garlic is widely used as a health food and a drug.

However, garlic contains an odor precursor which is easily converted to an odorous component such as allicin or diallyl disulfide, to thereby impart an unfavorable taste which many people dislike. Therefore, there have been developed methods for producing odorless garlic through heat treatment, as disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) Nos. 59-216565 and 4-12604. However, there still remain problems, such as generation of a garlic odor after eating.

Meanwhile, standardizing a method for processing garlic is important in view that the components or physiological activity of garlic depends on differences in processing conditions (Emiko MOTIZUKI: FOODS & FOOD INGREDIENTS JOURNAL OF JAPAN 164, 36-45, 1995).

Apart from garlic, there has conventionally been employed a method of fermentation making use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus for producing miso, soy sauce, sake, etc. The safety of Aspergillus and that of Monascus have already been substantiated on the basis of long-term dietary experience, and a variety of physiological effects provided by Aspergillus and/or Monascus are reported (e.g., anti-oxidation activity (Naohiko YAMAGUCHI: Nihon Shokuhin Kogyo Gakkaishi 26, 71-75, 1979) and inhibitory activity against angiotensin I converting enzyme (Takeyori TERANAKA, et al.: Nihon Nogeikagakukaishi 69, 1163-1169, 1995) provided by Aspergillus; or activity for reduction of cholesterol, antihypertension, etc. provided by Monascus).

Thus, the present inventors considered that a composition having no garlic odor and being useful as a drug or a food could be produced by fermenting garlic by use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus. According to the investigation thereon, garlic could not be fermented by use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus, since garlic per se exhibits antibacterial activity. Although Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 48-52995 discloses a process whereby a small amount of garlic is added during a production step of wine, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 53-26361 discloses a process whereby fermentation is induced by addition of a large amount of sugar to a small amount of garlic, no process of fermentation employing garlic as a predominant source has been reported.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a composition useful as a drug or food and produced by fermenting garlic by use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus to thereby remove a characteristic garlic odor.


DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, the present inventors have conducted earnest studies and have found that enzymatic deactivation of garlic performed in advance enables fermentation thereof by use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus without addition of a nutrient such as glucose or starch. Moreover, the present inventors have also found that the obtained fermented composition has no garlic odor and has anti-oxidative activity about 100 times that of intact garlic, as well as actions such as anti-diabetes activity, activity for protection from liver disease, anti-cancer activity, immunity-enhancing activity, and cholesterol-reducing activity, to thereby be useful for treatment and prevention of diabetes, hepatic diseases, cancer, immunopathy, hyperlipemia, and the like. The present invention has been accomplished based on this finding.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a composition prepared by fermenting enzymatically-deactivated garlic by use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus, as well as a food and a drug containing the same.

The present invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a composition prepared by fermenting enzymatically-deactivated garlic by use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

The present invention also provides use, as a drug, of a composition prepared by fermenting enzymatically-deactivated garlic by use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus.

The present invention also provides a method for treating a disease selected from among diabetes, a hepatic disease, cancer, immunopathy, and hyperlipemia by administering an effective amount of a composition prepared by fermenting enzymatically-deactivated garlic by use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus.

The present invention further provides a process for producing a fermented garlic composition by fermenting enzymatically-deactivated garlic by use of Aspergillus and/or Monascus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a graph showing active oxygen elimination activity.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing active oxygen elimination activity.

FIGS. 3 through 7 are graphs showing DPPH radical elimination activity.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing activity for inhibiting alloxan diabetes.

FIG. 9 is a graph showing glucose tolerance.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing activity for inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In the present invention, "garlic" refers to Allium sativum L., which belongs to Liliaceae Allium.

A bulb portion of garlic is particularly preferable for fermentation, and an enzymatically-deactivated garlic bulb may be subjected to fermentation as is or after being sliced into an arbitrary dimension or crushed to produce juice thereof. Furthermore, beans and/or cereals such as rice, soybeans, wheat, and adlay (coix lacrima-jobi) may be added in accordance with needs.

In the production of the fermented garlic composition according to the present invention, first, garlic is enzymatically deactivated. The enzymatic deactivation of garlic may be carried out with heat, microwave radiation, high pressure, an enzyme, acid, or alcohol. Of these, heat treatment is preferred, in view of simplicity. The treatment is preferably carried out at 50-200° C. for 1-60 minutes, particularly preferably at 90-121° C. for 10-30 minutes.

The enzymatically-deactivated garlic is fermented by use of one or more strains selected from the genus Aspergillus, such as Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus sojae, Aspergillus kawachi, or Aspergillus awamori, or the genus Monascus, such as Monascus pilosus, Monascus anka, Monascus paxii, Monascus pubigerus, Monascus purpures, Monascus ruber, Monascus vitreus, or Monascus major, to thereby obtain a target fermented garlic composition.

Specifically, the fermented garlic composition may be prepared through the following steps.

1) Preparation of a Garlic Culture Medium/Garlic-Containing Culture Medium

Garlic is washed with water and boiled with an equal volume of water for 20-30 minutes. The boiled garlic is subjected to a process such as mincing or crushing in accordance with needs. (When crushing is employed, obtained juice may be used exclusively.) Furthermore, beans and/or cereals such as rice, soybeans, wheat, and adlay may be added as nutrients to the processed garlic, or the processed garlic may be chaptalized, and the resultant material is sterilized (121° C., 20 minutes) in an apparatus such as an autoclave. The amount of added beans and/or cereals or that of chaptalization is controlled so as not to exceed 90 wt. % based on the entirety (hereinafter referred to simply as %).

2) Preculture of a Strain for Fermentation

Examples of the strains which are preferably used for fermentation include one or more strains selected from the genus Aspergillus, such as Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus sojae, Aspergillus kawachi, or Aspergillus awamori, or the genus Monascus such as M. pilosus, M. anka, M. paxii, M. pubigerus, M. purpures, M. ruber, M. vitreus, or M. major.

The strains are subcultured by use of a 2% yeast extract-added potato dextrose agar medium. The subcultured strains are inoculated to a subsequent culture medium, and cultured at 10-50° C. for 2-14 days, preferably at 20-40° C. for 2-4 days.

Examples of the media for preculturing include Sabouraud's agar medium (peptone 1%, glucose 4%), potato dextrose agar medium (tea of potato (200 g/l) glucose 2%), glycerin medium (glycerin 7%, glucose 3%, Soybean meal 3%, peptone 0.3%, magnesium sulfate 0.1%, sodium chloride 0.2%) and any medium for culturing Eumycetes. Edible material is preferably incorporated into culture media.

3) Fermentation of Garlic

The preculture liquid prepared in step 2 is added in an amount of 0.1-50%, preferably 0.5-10%, to the garlic medium prepared in step 1. Subsequently, culturing is carried out at 10-50° C. for 7-60 days, more preferably at 20-40° C. for 7-35 days in the case of Aspergillus or for 14-42 days in the case of Monascus, through stationary culture or shaking culture, to thereby prepare a fermented garlic composition. Alternatively, stationary culture may be carried out through monoculture by reducing the water content of a culture medium to 40-60%.

4) Processing of a Fermented Garlic Composition

Upon completion of fermentation in step 3, the fermented product is sterilized with heat. The sterilized product may be used as is or after isolation from the culture filtrate. Alternatively, an active component may be taken up from the sterilized product and submitted for use.

The thus-obtained composition according to the present invention may be processed into food through a customary method or, along with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, into a drug having any of a variety of forms.




  • [Market-farming] Black Garlic Recipe2, Lorri Mason, 01/11/2010

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