Development Prospects of Osmanthus fragrans Mixed Wine Based on Liquor and Spirits

Yingying ZHAO, Yuwen PENG, Yao XIAO

1. School of Liquor-Brewing Engineering, Sichuan University Jinjiang College, Meishan 620860, China; 2. Chengdu Kanghui Biology Co., Ltd., 610200, China

Abstract As a plant resource, Osmanthus fragrans has both medicinal and edible effects. This paper reviews the active components and health-care functions of O. fragrans, and introduces the current research situation of O. fragrans mixed wine. In addition, combined with the development of new products of plant-based flower wine, it analyzes the development prospects of O. fragrans mixed wine based on liquor and spirits.

Key words Osmanthus fragrans, mixed wine, Product development, Function

1 Introduction

Osmanthusfragransis anOsmanthusLour. plant of the Oleaceae family, native to southwestern China. Chengdu City of Sichuan Province is one of the five famous osmanthus producing areas in Chinese history, and enjoys the reputation of "Hometown of Osmanthus". Sichuan Province has many varieties of osmanthus and a long history of osmanthus cultivation. In the related work on the survey and classification of osmanthus varieties in Sichuan Province, Zeng Mingying[1]identified 59 varieties and 34 newly recorded varieties, of which more than 10 varieties of osmanthus have strong development prospects.

As a unique plant resource in China,O.fragranshas both medicinal and edible effects. According to records ofCompendiumofMateriaMedica, osmanthus seeds are sweet and pungent in taste and warm in nature, have functions of benefiting the stomach and expelling the cold; there are also studies indicating that osmanthus has functions of soothing the liver and regulating qi, dispelling the phlegm to suppress cough, and diffusing the lung to increase the appetite[2]. Yang Xiulianetal.[3]conducted principal component analysis on the nutrients (soluble sugar, soluble protein, water, vitamin C, organic acids, free amino acids, flavonoids and 6 mineral elements) in petals of 25 osmanthus varieties, and found that four varieties, namely,Osmanthusfragrans‘Yabhong’,Osmanthusfragrans‘Yucheng Dangui’,Osmanthusfragrans‘Qingshan Yingui’, andOsmanthusfragrans‘Yucheng Zuijihong’ have a higher comprehensive score, and are suitable for edible application. At present, the research on osmanthus mainly focuses on osmanthus essential oil and osmanthus concrete. However, as a food resource, the technology for developing osmanthus is not mature enough, and there are also relatively few reports on the form and components of other related products.

2 Active components and edible value of osmanthus

Existing studies have shown that excellent osmanthus petals contain a variety of nutrients, such as soluble sugars, amino acids, organic acids, vitamins and minerals. The findings of Fan Wenxiuetal.[4]indicate that osmanthus is rich in protein, flavonoids and vitamins and other substances, and these three categories of substances have a good effect on the improvement of human body functions. Flavonoids are a bioactive substance wide in plants and have physiological activities such as antioxidant, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and enhancing immunity. Wang Limeietal.[5]found that osmanthus flavonoids have better antibacterial effect. In the study of osmanthus flavonoids, Yin Aiwuetal.[6]found that osmanthus flavonoids have certain antioxidant effectsinvitroandinvivo. Yue Shumeietal.[7]isolated triterpenoids fromO.fragrans, and studied their hypolipidemic effect and antioxidant activity. They concluded that the osmanthus triterpenoids had obvious hypolipidemic and antioxidant activities. It shows that osmanthus can not only reduce blood lipid levels in serum by improving autoimmunity, but also reduce blood lipids by improving the antioxidant defense system in the body. Experimental studies have shown that the active components of osmanthus triterpenes have significant antioxidant and hypolipidemic effects. Therefore, osmanthus has the possibility of preparing natural blood lipid-lowering and antioxidant drugs, and can also be used as a health care product for the prevention and adjuvant treatment of hyperlipidemia.

The above studies have shown that osmanthus has good health care functions. When developing products, it is required to take account of the particularity of osmanthus as a medicinal and edible resource, and take advantage of its active components to ensure its efficacy, achieve the effect of comprehensive utilization, and achieve ecologically harmonious sustainable development. At present, with the continuous improvement of the extraction process of osmanthus essential oil and concrete, the role of osmanthus in food flavoring has gradually become outstanding. The forms of osmanthus products are gradually increasing, such as osmanthus wine, sweet osmanthus, sweet osmanthus rice cake, osmanthus red bean porridge and osmanthus tea[8].

3 Advance in research of osmanthus wine

As a food resource with excellent health care effects, osmanthus can be used in food processing. It has derived various products, such as osmanthus flowers, dried flowers, osmanthus essential oils, osmanthus extracts, osmanthus concretes and osmanthus isolates,etc.At present, osmanthus and its concrete are the mainstream forms. Among them, there are also a variety of wine products developed with osmanthus as an auxiliary raw material, such as osmanthus glutinous rice wine, osmanthus honey wine, and flower mixed wine products developed with a variety of flowers. With the current market demand for the development of new wine products and consumers’ increasing attention to health care, adding plant and flower raw materials to develop new wine products has become a research hotspot in the entire industry, and it is also a manifestation of market demand. At present, the new wine products of plant and flower raw materials include camellia mixed wine, tea mixed wine, jasmine mixed wine, rose mixed wine, osmanthus mixed wine, chrysanthemum mixed wine and sophora flower mixed wine[9].

Using osmanthus and glutinous rice as raw materials, and Rhizopus as a single species, Lu Yujieetal.[10]fermented to prepare osmanthus glutinous rice wine. They completed the optimization of the process parameters of the fermented osmanthus glutinous rice wine through single-factor experiments and orthogonal experiments, and found that the sugar-acid ratio is suitable, the flavonoid content is stable, and the sensory score is high. Chen Taoetal.[11]studied the effects of osmanthus on the brewing process and aroma components of rape flower honey mixed wine, and found that the aroma of honey wine was significantly improved after adding osmanthus, and detected a variety of aroma substances such as amyl acetate and ethyl phenylpropionate. These studies have proven that the aroma of honey wine can be improved by adding osmanthus in the process of industrial production, and the quality of the product can be improved. Deng Yuanxietal.[12]used osmanthus and glutinous rice wine as the main raw materials, and determined the optimal process parameters through orthogonal experiments to develop health-care high-quality osmanthus glutinous rice mixed wine product with the unique aroma of osmanthus. Its process is osmanthus juice 30%, glutinous rice wine 50%, sucrose 7% and citric acid 0.1%. The osmanthus glutinous rice wine obtained under these conditions is bright in color, has the unique fragrance of osmanthus, the fragrance of rice is elegant, and the aftertaste is pleasant. Wang Jianguoetal.[13]adhered to the popular brewing technology of osmanthus honey wine, and learned from the traditional production process of Yuanhong wine (Shaoxing wine), added clear water, aged rice wine and fresh osmanthus while the rice was put into the jar, and mixed with high-quality raw wheat koji, saccharification enzyme and active rice wine dry yeast, then brewed the osmanthus honey wine after long-term low-temperature fermentation. This wine has the functions and characteristics of nourishing, conditioning and health preservation. In order to better screen the strains for brewing osmanthus wine, Fan Jingetal.[14]isolated aBacillusstrain fromO.fragrans, and explored the brewing process of osmanthus honey wine. The brewed osmanthus honey wine has a mellow taste, with an alcohol content of 8%-11%, and the bitterness of osmanthus fermentation can be adjusted by adding vitamin C. This product is suitable for drinking people who are keen on low-alcohol wine, including the elderly and young women, and has better health care effects.

Wu Guangqianetal.[15]well combined flowers and wine to make flower wine rich in nutrients and multiple health benefits, which is an ideal drink that integrates nourishing health care and accompany meals, and has a broad market prospect. They combined extract method and solid-state fermentation method to conduct trial-production research on flower wine, and determined the technological conditions. Nearly 10 kinds of dried flowers, includingSophorajaponicaflowers,Panaxnotoginsengflowers, peach flowers, osmanthus flowers, jasmine, lily, chrysanthemum and rose were mixed in proportion, put 0.5% of dried flowers in 60% pure sorghum Xiaoqu liquor for 30 d, to obtain a flower wine with yellowish color, clear and transparent, no sediment, no suspended matter, comfortable floral aroma, harmonious fragrance, mellow, suppleness, sweetness and refreshing taste, harmonious flavor and pleasant aftertaste. The physical and chemical analysis of the finished wine showed that the alcohol content was 45.8%, the total acid (calculated as acetic acid) was 0.67 g/L, the total ester (calculated as ethyl acetate) was 3.12 g/L, and the soluble solid was 0.36 g/100 mL. Bian Minghongetal.[16]used osmanthus and glutinous rice as the main raw materials to study the brewing process of osmanthus glutinous rice wine. The brewed osmanthus wine is clear in body, amber in color, rich in aroma, sweet and refreshing in the taste, and elegant in fragrance of osmanthus. In addition, the osmanthus has retained the active components in the brewing process, so the osmanthus rice wine is rich in nutrients.

At present, the development of new wine products by adding osmanthus raw materials is mostly based on the traditional rice wine brewing, adding osmanthus raw materials for product improvement. The types of new wine products are mostly fermented wine. However, there are almost no related researches and reports on the preparation of osmanthus mixed wine.

4 Development prospects of osmanthus mixed wine based on liquor and spirits

4.1 Current research situation of mixed wine productsMixed wine is a type of drink wine that uses fermented wine, distilled wine or edible alcohol as the base wine, directly mixes with a variety of animal and plant juices or food additives, or made of a variety of animal and plant medicinal materials in the base wine by soaking, cooking, or distillation. Mixed wine has high alcohol content, generally 18%-38%, and is a wine with enhanced flavor, nutrition and efficacy[17]. In the context of the development of new wine products, the new consumption trend of low alcohol content and combination of taste and nutrition makes the development of mixed wine a new research hotspot.

Wang Chenping[18]explored the causes and effects of the three major hazards of microbial contamination, oxidation and precipitation in low-alcohol mixed wine, stated that the key production technologies of low-alcohol mixed wine include anti-microbial, anti-oxidation, anti-precipitation, and put forward specific solutions and technical ideas based on their experience in the research and development and production of low-alcohol mixed wine. Zhu Lihongetal.[19]used sweet rice wine, dry kiwifruit wine and edible alcohol as raw materials, processed these raw materials, and mixed 18% of sweet rice wine, 35% of dry kiwifruit wine, and 47% of edible alcohol according to the total volume (V/V), and then blended seasoned, sterilized, stored and bottled to obtain the kiwi mixed wine. Wu Huiyuanetal.[20]usedPyrusbretschneideriRehd. cv. ‘Biyang Piaoli’ and Fenghuang wine as the main raw materials, and using the soaking method, they studied the effects of temperature, different parts of the pear fruit, the ratio of sugar and wine, and soaking time on the alcohol content, titratable acid, vitamin C, iron content and sensory perception during the preparation of Biyang Piaoli fruit wine. Finally, they screened the optimized conditions for two types of mixed wine: (i) Biyang Piaoli peel, sugar and wine ratio 50 g/L, temperature 5 ℃, soaking time 30 d (the iron content was the highest); (ii) Biyang Piaoli stone, sugar and wine ratio 100 g/L, temperature 5 ℃, soaking time 60 d (the acid content was the highest). Using different wines as the extraction solvent of pueraria root isoflavones, Li Xiaolietal.[21]extracted the active components of pueraria root by ultrasonic-assisted extraction, and soaked the pueraria root extract in 42% vol base wine, and obtained the mixed wine, which was clear and transparent, soft and mellow, comfortable and smooth, mellow, with a long aftertaste. They determined the content of puerarin (0.3 mL/L) in pueraria root mixed wine by HPLC method, which was 0.3 mL/L. Huang Xiaohongetal.[22]used liquor and spirits as the wine base andSynsepalumdulcificum(miracle fruit) as the main raw material, and studied the processing conditions of miracle fruit mixed wine. They determined the alcoholization conditions and the optimal process parameters through orthogonal experiments. The results show that the optimum conditions for preparing alcoholized fruit juice were as follows: the volume ratio of fruit juice and liquor and spirits was 1∶1, the alcoholization temperature was 15-18 ℃, and the alcoholization time was 20 d. Through experiments, it was found that the basic formula of miracle fruit mixed wine was 40% alcoholized fruit juice, 6% rock sugar, and 0.5% total acid, and the physical and chemical indicators and hygienic indicators of the product obtained under these conditions met the national standards.

4.2 Analysis on development prospects of osmanthus mixed wineAt present, there are many types of mixed wine developed with plant and flower raw materials. In particular, the successful marketing of RIO cocktail has promoted consumers’ demand for mixed wine. However, the osmanthus mixed wine produced with liquor and spirits as the base wine has not appeared in the market. Only the osmanthus mixed wine developed by Bandao Wine Industry Co., Ltd. with grape wine as the base wine appeared.

The osmanthus mixed wine proposed in this paper is a series of low-alcohol health-care osmanthus mixed wine, developed with the rice-flavor liquor and spirits as the base wine and osmanthus as the raw material. Osmanthus mixed wine technology research uses different liquor and spirits products as base wines, and the most suitable liquor and spirits base varieties are obtained through experiments. Osmanthus raw materials are used in the form of dried osmanthus flowers and osmanthus essential oil. By comparing the color and taste of osmanthus mixed wine and the leaching amount of the active components of osmanthus in the finished mixed wine, we obtained the optimal production process. The product is not only fresh in taste, but also rich in nutrition.

With the new consumption needs of consumers and the pursuit of fashionable consumption, it is believed that the market for new wine products will gradually increase. The osmanthus mixed wine proposed in this paper is a new type of mixed wine product. The development and research of this product will not only fill the blank of such products in the market, but also will inevitably promote a new round of consumption fashion. Therefore, this type of osmanthus mixed wine has a broad market space and bright development prospects.

5 Conclusions

Chengdu City of Sichuan Province is an excellent osmanthus planting base and has many varieties and high yield of osmanthus. In addition, Sichuan’s liquor and spirits industry is also famous all over the world and its liquor and spirits output and economic benefits occupy an important position in the industrial industry. Combining the resource advantages of osmanthus and liquor and spirits effectively, and developing a new type of osmanthus mixed wine can not only promote the development of liquor and spirits industry, but also effectively promote the development of related industries such as osmanthus and food processing. Therefore, the development of osmanthus mixed wine with liquor and spirits as the base wine has good social and economic benefits.