Cola

#### Cola. The **Cola **"nut" is one of the most important of all the essential-oil-free—and practically odorless —natural flavor materials. The botanical material which we call cola "nuts" are embryo-leaves from the seeds of the cola fruit. The fruit is obtained from a large tree, **Sterculia Acuminata **(or other Stercula species) originating in west Africa. The cola trees are now cultivated extensively in other tropical regions since it is too difficult to transport the fresh "nuts" over long distances. The fresh cola "nut" has been the indispensible tonic of the west African people from time immemorial. It can be packed in green banana leaves and kept fresh for many days during exhausting travels through jungles or across deserts. The active ingredient in the cola "nut" is **Caffeine **which also lends an intensely bitter taste to the "nut" when it is chewed. The "nut" is about the size of a. walnut, purple colored on the outside, white inside when it is fresh. The cola "nuts" are usually halved during the drying process. They become chocolate brown, hard as wood, and they lose part of their stimulant effect. Dried cola "nuts" are shipped all over the world. They are used in pharmaceutical preparations, in mild tonics, in non-alcoholic beverages and for the extraction of Caffeine. The ground or coarsely comminuted cola "nuts" are extracted with a weak ethyl alcohol or with hot water. In the latter case, a mild alkali is added in order to transform the caffeine into a less bitter substance, and to make it easier soluble in the aqueous extract. The extract is evaporated to a standard strength (one part of extract to be equivalent to one part of dry cola "nut"), or the extract is evaporated completely to a dry extract which is approximately five times stronger than the crude botanical material. For the use of **Cola **in flavors it has certain advantages to add an edible, non-volatile solvent, such as propylene glycol to the extract during the evaporation which should be carried out under vacuum. By this method it is possible to produce a concentrated **Cola**-extract (two-fold or more) which is miscible with other flavor materials or with alcohol of reduced strength. **Cola Glycol Concentrates **are dark brown, clear and viscous liquids of bitter-woody but not unpleasant taste. The odor is typical of the amine-like or "animal" odor of the wet and pulverized cola "nuts". This "proteine" type of odor is also found in certain fractions of Atlas cedarwood oil. It vanishes completely when cola extracts are used in acid media and it is conceivable that this unpleasant odor is due to an alkaline substance. **Cola**** ****Extracts**** **are used in the **Coca-Cola**** **type of carbonated beverages in the flavor complex of coca, lime, cinnamon, ginger, orange peel and other natural materials. The **Coca**** **flavor is characterized by methyl salicylate, the main flavor principle in the decocainized **Coca**-leaf extract which is also used in the above popular beverage.