Preparation of high‐fructose syrup from the tubers of the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosusL.)

Abstract

Fructose has recently received much attention due to renewed interest in natural sweeteners. In addition, fructose has some advantages to sucrose in sweetness, solubility, viscosity, and dental health characteristics. Fructose is deposited as storage fructans of the inulin (beta-1,2) type in tubers and rhizomes of the Compositae family. The utilization of the Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) tuber as a source of fructose syrup is discussed. This plant has the potential to produce more sugar per acre than corn or sugar beets. In addition, the artichoke has higher frost resistance and lower heat unit requirements than corn and is somewhat more tolerant to low moisture conditions than sugar beets. A high quality fructose syrup can be produced from artichoke tubers. The extraction step was found to be particularly important since development of adverse colors and flavors must be prevented. The fructans may be acid or enzyme hydrolyzed but the latter method gave a higher quality syrup. Ion-exchange resins and activated charcoal were effective in removing coloring and flavoring materials, and also reduced other noncarbohydrate constituents. Since the enzymatic hydrolysis of the fructans is an attractive alternative to acid hydrolysis, a process was developed for producing and purifying a special beta-fructofuranosidase (inulase) from Saccharomyces fragilis. Inulase has a much higher specificity for fructans than commerically available beta-fructofuranosidase (invertase).

Impact of Inulin on Calves’ Growth and Possible Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emission

“…Usually flour of Jerusalem artichoke contains 10% of inulin, but it is possible to increase its amount up to 48.5%-50% by using special technologies. (Fleming et al, 1979;Valdovska et al, 2012) All calves had free access to water and hay and starting from the second week of the research they also got fodder. Each day we evaluated health status of all calves, paying more attention to faecal consistency.…”

Production, Purification and Characterization of Inulinase from a Newly Isolated <i>Streptomyces</i> sp. CP01

“…It is a reserve as a storage carbohydrate and accumulated in the underground organ of several plants such as Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), chicory (Cichorium intibus), dahlia (Dahlia pintana) and dandelion (Taraxacum officinal) [2,3]. As it is abundantly available in nature and having fructose as its major composition, therefore it is suitable to be used as a substrate for fructo-oligosaccharides and high fructose syrup production for food, drink and pharmaceutical industries [4]. Moreover, fructose is also used as a substrate for bioethanol fermentation as renewable energy source by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zymomonas mobilis [5].…”

Modulation of genotoxic enzyme activities by non-digestible oligosaccharide metabolism in in-vitro human gut bacterial ecosystems

“…FOS occur naturally in storage polymers of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) tubers [13]. They are composed primarily of polyfructans with a degree of polymerisation (d.p.)…”