American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Jan. 16, 2008

Batches of homemade chicken soup — fondly known as “Grandma’s Penicillin” — will be more appealing to stuffy-nosed cold and flu victims this winter if prepared with plenty of celery. That’s the take-home message from a study scheduled for the Jan. 23 issue of ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication, which reports identification of the flavor-boosting components in celery.

In the new study, Kikue Kubota and colleagues note that cooks have long recognized celery’s “remarkable” ability to enchance the complex flavors of soups and broths. Almost magically, celery takes on a sweet-spicy flavor after boiling, helping to give food a thick, full-bodied, satisfying taste. Until now, however, scientists have been unable to track down the roots of celery’s effects.

The scientists prepared batches of chicken broth with and without a volatile extract from celery. Panels of tasters confirmed that the flavor of soup made with celery extract was more intense. In particular, celery’s extract enhanced the sweetness and umami (meaty or savory) taste of the broth, even though the extract had virtually no flavor of its own.

From the extract, researchers identified three compounds responsible for celery’s flavor-enhancement. The compounds were phthalides, and they had the ability to enhance flavors despite being tasteless themselves. — MTS

ARTICLE #4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE “Flavor Enhancement of Chicken Broth from Boiled Celery Constituents”

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CONTACT:
Kikue Kubota, Ph.D.
Technical Research Center
T. Hasegawa Co. Ltd.
Kawaskai-shi, Japan
Phone: 81-3-5978-2557
Fax: 81-3-5978-2557
Email:

ARTICLE #5 EMBARGOED FOR 9 A.M., EASTERN TIME, Jan. 21, 2008

Growing consumer demand for “greener” cleaning products sparks industry changes
Chemical & Engineering News

Amid growing consumer demand for more environmentally-friendly cleaning products, chemical suppliers are stepping-up their efforts to provide greener ingredients with the same effectiveness of conventional ones, according to an article [http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/86/8603cover.html] scheduled for the Jan. 21 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS’ weekly newsmagazine.

In the magazine’s cover story, C&EN Assistant Managing Editor Michael McCoy notes that “green” cleaning supplies were once the province of fringe industries but are now attracting the attention of big corporations in the United States and beyond. Increasingly, suppliers are generating consumer cleaning products that contain natural or naturally-derived ingredients, avoid the use of environmentally-harmful chemicals, and generate less carbon dioxide during manufacturing and use, McCoy states. Consumer products giant Clorox will join the bandwagon this month by rolling out a new line of green cleaning products with the earth-friendly name Green Works, he notes.