Field of invention
The present invention relates to a formulation of liquid asafoetida and a process for the preparation thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to the preparation of asafoetida in the liquid form by blending asafoetida oil and asafoetida non-volatile extract along with edible, permitted diluents in specific proportions.
Background of invention and Description of Prior Art
Asafoetida is the dried latex exuded from the living rhizome, rootstock or taproot of an umbeliferous plant {Ferula asafoetida Regel.). A popular spice in foods and medicines, Indian compounded asafoetida enjoys an exalted position in the international market. India imports asafoetida in crude form from Afghanistan and Iran. A part of the imported resin is re-exported after processing. Its chief constituents are about 62 per cent of resin, 25 per cent of gum and 7 per cent oil. The latex also contains free ferulic acid and small quantities of various impurities. It is vital to keep asafoetida in airtight containers as its sulfurous odour affects other foods and spices. It is most commonly available as powder or granules that can be added directly to the cooking pot. It is also sold in lumps that need to be crushed before using.
Owing to the strong sulphurous flavour of asafoetida, it is diluted with gum and starch and marketed as compounded asafoetida. The Irani and Pathani asafoetida are mixed, blended and compounded in different strength and quality with gum arabica and flavours. While trading, different manufacturers employ their own formulae in blending and compounding.
Compounded asafoetida loses the flavour over a period of storage due to the large surface area and non uniformity of the product. Also compounded asafoetida is not soluble but disperses in
the aqueous medium. Since compounded asafoetida is a valuable adjunct to food flavouring, issues relating to loss of flavour and the solubility needs to be attended.
Reference may be made to a process developed in CFTRI for the preparation of compounded asafoetida in powder form, which has been commercially exploited. This process describes the preparation of compounded asafoetida which contains starch and gum along with Pathani and Irani asafoetida. However, the said formulation is in solid form.
Reference may be made to United States patent application No: US200508953 by Janaswamy Rao et al titled "Novel herbal composition for the treatment of gastric ulcer" wherein a composition comprising of powdered plants of Asperagus racemosus, Glycyrrhiza, Seaamum indicum, Musa sapientum along with Ferula asafoetida with permitted diluents / additives is described. However, the said document does not disclose anything about asafoetida in liquid form.
Reference may also be made to Korean patent application No: KR2002029210 by Choi Sang Un et al titled "Anticancer composition containing sesquiterpene compound separated form asafoetida" wherein a pharmaceutical composition comprising a soluble extract of Ferula asafoetida using lower alcohol and exhibiting anticancer activity is disclosed. However, the said document does not pertain to the preparation of a liquid and easily dispersible asafoetida formulation.
Reference may further be made to US4576737 by Johnson Richard S, titled "Encapsulation of volatile liquids" wherein encapsulation of natural or synthetic flavouring oils or perfumes in carriers is carried out by spraying the emulsion comprising the carrier and the volatile liquids
onto particles in a fluidized bed. The encapsulated powder is useful in detergent composition and foodstuff and perfumes. However, the present invention is aimed with the main object of having easy handling of asafoetida for use in culinary preparations.
Keeping in view the hitherto known prior art, it can be summarized that the prior art references deal with the preparation of compounded asafoetida only in solid compounded form, which has difficulty in dispersion in aqueous medium. Therefore, the inventors of the present invention realized that there exists a dire need to provide an asafoetida formulation in liquid form, which is easily dispersible in aqueous medium with superior aroma and taste and overall acceptability.
Objects of the Invention
The main object of the present invention is thus to provide a liquid formulation of asafoetida while increasing the solubility and providing easy handling for the users with a better shelf life of the product.
Another object of the invention is to provide a formulation which is ready to use and is soluble both in aqueous as well as non-aqueous medium.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a formulation of liquid asafoetida that can be altered by varying the amount of volatile and non-volatile extracts, diluents and emulsifying agent in order to have different flavour strength in the product.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a process for the preparation of the liquid asafoetida formulation.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention provides a process for the preparation of liquid asafoetida formulation, which comprises blending the volatile and/or non volatile extracts of asafoetida obtained from either one or two varieties of asafoetida with edible diluents and emulsifiers and blending to obtain a liquid asafoetida formulation.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a formulation of liquid asafoetida comprising:
[a] 1 to 10 % v/v volatile asafoetida oil;
[b] 1 to 9 % w/v non volatile asafoetida extract;
[c] 5 to 30 % v/v of an emulsifier;
[d] 93 to 51% v/v of permitted diluents.
The invention further provides a process for the preparation of liquid asafoetida formulation, wherein the steps comprising:
[i] extracting volatile oil from Pathani asafoetida for 4 to 8 hrs to obtain 0.08 - 15%
v/w of volatile asafoetida oil; [ii] simultaneously, extracting the non volatile extracts from Pathani and/or Irani
asafoetida using ethanol to obtain a yield of 10-35%w/w; [iii] blending 1-10% v/v of the the volatile asafoetida oil as obtained from step [i]
with 5-30 % v/v of an emulsifying agent; [iv] adding 1 - 9 % w/v of the non volatile extract as obtained in step [ii] to the
mixture of emulsifier and volatile oil as obtained from step [iii]; [v] mixing 93 - 51% v/v of the permitted diluents to the mixture of step [iv] followed
by blending in a homogenizer to obtain the desired liquid asafoetida formulation.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the volatile oil from the asafoetida is extracted using hydro steam distillation.
In another embodiment of the invention, the emulsifying agent used may be a polyoxyethylene monostearate, preferably Tween 60.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, the permitted diluents are selected from propylene glycol or deodorized refined vegetable oil.
In still another embodiment of the invention, the oil used may be from vegetable origin such as sunflower, groundnut, safflower and the like.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, the homogenization of the formulation is carried out at a speed of 500-2000 rpm for 10-20 min.
Detailed Description of the Invention
Asafoetida is the dried latex exudate from the living rhizome, rootstock or taproot of an umbeliferous plant Ferula asafoetida Regel.
Asafoetida is the dried latex exudate from the living rhizome, rootstock or taproot of an umbeliferous plant Ferula asafoetida Regel. India imports asafoetida in crude form from Afghanistan and Iran. Pathnai and Pirnakshir are in paste form and collected from Afghanistan. Irani is in the solid from and procured from Iran. The above said varieties of asafoetida were purchased in Mumbai, India.
Owing to strong sulfurous flavour, crude asafoetida needs to be diluted with gum and starch. In general, compounded asafoetida loses the flavour over a period of storage due to the larger surface area and non-homogeneity of the product. Also, compounded asafoetida is not soluble in the aqueous medium but only forms dispersion. The present invention therefore provides a formulation and a process for the preparation of asafoetida in liquid form having superior aroma, taste and overall acceptability. The product is easily soluble in aqueous as well as non-aqueous media.
Provided herein is a formulation of asafoetida in the form of uniform, homogeneous liquid containing the volatile and non-volatile constituents of asafoetida responsible for aroma and taste with the permitted edible additives. The process of the invention involves the extraction of the volatile oils and non-volatiles from pure asafoetida latex and their dilution with permitted additives and emulsifier so as to have easy handling and dosing in the culinary preparations with long shelf life.
The following examples are given by way of illustration and therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention.
Example 1
Pathani asafoetida (500g) was weighed accurately and transferred into the distillation flask. Water (8 L) was added to make slurry. The flask was connected to the calibrated oil trap through the condenser. Steam hydro distillation was carried out while collecting the oil in the trap. The process was continued for 4 hours until there was no increase in the oil content over a period of 1 hour. The yield of asafoetida oil obtained was 13.0 % v/w (dry weight basis).
Irani asafoetida (100 g) was weighed accurately and extracted with ethanol (98%) for 8 hours using a soxhiet apparatus. The extract was desolventized under vacuum at 50°C to get the asafoetida extract yield of 34.7 % w/w, which was further dispersed in propylene glycol (70 ml). Liquid asafoetida formulation was prepared by blending asafoetida extract (0.4 g) with Tween60 (4 ml) for 15 min. Asafoetida oil (0.4 ml) was added along with propylene glycol (6 ml) and blended to obtain a homogeneous solution (10 ml).
Example 2
Pathani asafoetida (1000g) was weighed accurately and transferred into the distillation flask. Water (16 L) was added to make slurry. The flask was connected to the calibrated oil trap through the condenser. Distillation was carried out for 4 h until there was no increase in the oil content over a period of 1 hour in the oil trap. The yield of asafoetida oil obtained was 11.0 % v/w (dry weight basis). Irani asafoetida (100 g) was weighed accurately extracted with ethanol (98%) for 8 hours by using a soxhiet apparatus. The extract was desolventized under vacuum at 50°C to get the extract yield of 15.8 % w/w, which was further dispersed in propylene glycol (70 ml). Liquid asafoetida formulation was prepared by blending asafoetida extract (0.2 g) with Tween 60 (4 ml) for 15 min. Asafoetida oil (0.6 ml) was added along with propylene glycol (6 ml) and blended to obtain a homogeneous solution (10 ml).
Example 3
Pathani asafoetida was hydro distilled with water to obtain the volatile oil yield of 12% v/w. Liquid asafoetida formulation was prepared by blending asafoetida oil (2 ml) with Tween60 (5 ml) for 15 min along with propylene glycol (95 ml) and blended to obtain a homogeneous liquid asafoetida solution (100 ml).

(Figure Removed)
Advantages:
• The formulation provided herein is a new, ready-to-use product containing both volatiles and non volatiles of asafoetida, which provides aroma as well as taste.
• The product is easily dispersible either in aqueous or in fat medium to give uniform solution/suspension.

We claim:
1. A formulation of liquid asafoetida comprising:
[a] 1 to 10 % v/v volatile asafoetida oil;
[b] 1 to 9 % w/v non volatile asafoetida extract;
[c] 5 to 30 % v/v of an emulsifier;
[d] 93 to 51% v/v of permitted diluents.
2. A process for the preparation of liquid asafoetida formulation as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the steps comprising:
[i] extracting volatile oil from Pathani asafoetida for 4 to 8 hrs to obtain 0.08 - 15%
v/w of volatile asafoetida oil; [ii] simultaneously, extracting the non volatile extracts from Pathani and/or Irani
asafoetida using ethanol to obtain a yield of 10-35%w/w; [iii] blending 1-10% v/v of the the volatile asafoetida oil as obtained from step [i]
with 5-30 % v/v of an emulsifying agent; [iv] adding 1 - 9 % w/v of the non volatile extract as obtained in step [ii] to the
mixture of emulsifier and volatile oil as obtained from step [iii]; [v] mixing 93 - 51% v/v of the permitted diluents to the mixture of step [iv] followed
by blending in a homogenizer to obtain the desired liquid asafoetida formulation.
3. A process as claimed in claim 2, wherein the volatile oil from asafoetida is preferably extracted by hydro steam distillation.
4. A process as claimed in claim 2, wherein the emulsifying agent is a polyoxyethylene monostearate preferably Tween 60.
5. A process as claimed in claim 2, wherein the permitted diluents are selected from
propylene glycol or deodorized refined vegetable oil.
6. A process as claimed in claim 2, wherein the oil used is preferably sunflower, groundnut
or safflower oil.
7. A process as claimed in claim 2, wherein homogenization is carried out at a speed of
500-2000 rpm for 10-20 min.
8. A formulation of liquid asafoetida and a process for the preparation thereof substantially
as herein described with reference to the foregoing examples.