Tasteful natural sweetener and flavor

Abstract

The invention describes products, uses thereof, compositions thereof, and methods to prepare products formed from Maillard reaction products from a sugar donor and/or sweet tea extracts, stevia extracts, swingle (mogroside) extracts, one or more sweet tea extract components, one or more steviol glycosides, one or more mogrosides, one or more glycosylated sweet tea glycosides, one or more glycosylated steviol glycosides or one or more glycosylated mogrosides and an amine donor/reactant.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A composition comprising a Maillard reaction product(s) (MRPs) formed from one or more reducing sugar(s) having a free carbonyl group and one or more amine donor(s) or mixtures thereof having a free amino group and Maillard reaction product(s) formed from one or more of a stevia extract (stevia-MPRs), a steviol glycoside(s) (SG-MRPs) and/or a glycosylated steviol glycoside(s) (GSG-MRPs) and one or more amine donors or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         2 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the reducing sugar comprises monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the amine donor comprises one or more of a primary amine compound, a secondary amine compound, an amino acid, a protein, a peptide, a yeast extract or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The composition of  claim 3 , wherein the amino acid comprises alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, valine or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the steviol glycoside comprises rebaudioside A, rebaudioside B, rebaudioside D, rebaudioside E, rebaudioside M, rebaudioside O, or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         6 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the glycosylated steviol glycoside comprises glycosylation products of steviol, stevioside, steviolbioside, rebaudioside A, rebaudioside B, rebaudioside C, rebaudioside D, rebaudioside E, rebaudioside F, rebaudioside M, rebaudioside O, rebaudioside H, rebaudioside I, rebaudioside L, rebaudioside N, rebaudioside K, rebaudioside J, rubusoside, dulcoside A or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein, optionally, a portion of unreacted reducing sugar(s), stevia extract, steviol glycoside(s), glycosylated steviol glycoside(s) and/or a portion of unreacted amine donor(s) remain in the composition. 
     
     
         8 . The composition of  claim 7 , further comprising sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol, sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame-K, neotame, erythritol, trehalose, raffinose, cellobiose, tagatose, allulose, inulin, N—[N-[3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)propyl]-alpha-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester, glycyrrhizin, sodium cyclamate, brazzein, miraculin, curculin, pentadin, mabinlin, thaumatin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDC), maltol, advantame or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         9 . The composition of  claim 7 , further comprising a sweetening agent comprising sweet tea extracts, swingle (mogroside) extracts, one or more sweet tea glycosides (rubusoside and suaviosides), one or more mogrosides, one or more glycosylated sweet tea glycosides, one or more glycosylated mogrosides or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         10 . A method for preparing a composition, the composition comprising a reducing sugar based Maillard Reaction Product(s) (MRPs) and a Maillard Reaction Product of a stevia extract (stevia-MRPs), a steviol glycoside(s) (SG-MRPs) and/or a glycosylated steviol glycoside(s) (GSG-MRPs) or mixtures thereof and one or more amine donor(s), wherein the reducing sugar based MRP(s) is formed from one or more reducing sugar(s) having a free carbonyl group and one or more amine donor(s) having a free amino group, comprising the steps:
 preparing a reaction mixture comprising one or more reducing sugar(s), one or more of stevia extract, a steviol glycoside(s) and/or a glycosylated steviol glycoside(s) and one or more amine donor(s) comprising a free amino group(s);   optionally, combining the reaction mixture with one or more solvents to provide a reaction solution;   heating the reaction solution under conditions suitable for forming a solution or slurry comprising one or more reducing sugar Maillard Reaction Product(s) (MRPs) and one or more stevia-MRP(s), SG-MRP(s) and/or GSG-MRP(s), wherein optionally, the stevia extract, the steviol glycoside(s) and/or the glycosylated steviol glycoside(s) is added during or after the completion of the conventional Maillard reaction, to form a Millard Reaction mixture composition; and   optionally, isolating the Millard Reaction mixture composition.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the reducing sugar comprises monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the amine donor comprises one or more of a primary amine compound, a secondary amine compound, an amino acid, a protein, a peptide, a yeast extract or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the amino acid comprises alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, valine or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the steviol glycoside comprises rebaudioside A, rebaudioside B, rebaudioside D, rebaudioside E, rebaudioside M, rebaudioside O, or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the glycosylated steviol glycoside comprises glycosylation products of steviol, stevioside, steviolbioside, rebaudioside A, rebaudioside B, rebaudioside C, rebaudioside D, rebaudioside E, rebaudioside F, rebaudioside M, rebaudioside O, rebaudioside H, rebaudioside I, rebaudioside L, rebaudioside N, rebaudioside K, rebaudioside J, rubusoside, dulcoside A or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein, optionally, a portion of unreacted reducing sugar(s) and/or a portion of unreacted amine donor(s) remain in the composition. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol, sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame-K, neotame, erythritol, trehalose, raffinose, cellobiose, tagatose, allulose, inulin, N—[N-[3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)propyl]-alpha-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester, glycyrrhizin, sodium cyclamate, brazzein, miraculin, curculin, pentadin, mabinlin, thaumatin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDC), maltol, advantame or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising a sweetening agent comprising sweet tea extracts, swingle (mogroside) extracts, one or more sweet tea glycosides (rubusoside and suaviosides), one or more mogrosides, one or more glycosylated sweet tea glycosides, one or more glycosylated mogrosides or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         19 . A method for improving taste and/or mouthfeel profile of a food or beverage composition, comprising the steps:
 preparing a reaction mixture comprising one or more reducing sugar(s), one or more of a stevia extract, a steviol glycoside(s) and/or a glycosylated steviol glycoside(s) and one or more amine donor(s) comprising a free amino group(s);   optionally, combining the reaction mixture with one or more solvents to provide a reaction solution;   heating the reaction solution under conditions suitable for forming a solution or slurry comprising one or more reducing sugar Maillard Reaction Product(s) (MRPs) and Maillard Reaction Product(s) of the stevia extract (stevia-MRPs), the steviol glycoside(s) (SG-MRPs) and/or the glycosylated steviol glycoside(s) (GSG-MRPs), wherein optionally, the stevia extract, the steviol glycoside(s) and/or the glycosylated steviol glycoside(s) is added during or after the completion of the conventional Maillard reaction, to form a Millard Reaction mixture composition;   optionally, isolating the Millard Reaction mixture composition; and   adding the Millard Reaction mixture composition to a food or beverage composition, wherein the taste and/or mouthfeel profile of the food or beverage is improved.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the reducing sugar comprises monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, and combinations thereof.