FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL, VOL. 7,53 (1992)

Book Review

BITTERNESS I N FOODS AND BEVERAGES, edited by Russell L. Rouseff, Elsevier Science Publishers, Barking, Essex, 1990. No. of pages: xviii + 356, price Dfl. 260.00, USS133.25. ISBN 0-444-88175-1.

This book, which claims to be ‘the most comprehen- sive text devoted to bitterness in food’, is divided into four major sections and eighteen chapters. There are 33 contributors, 19 from the United States and 10 from the United Kingdom. The first section introduces bitterness with an overview by the Editor, a discussion of physio- logical and therapeutic aspects of bitter compounds (Brieskorn) and a correlation of structure versus bitter taste (Maga). This section concludes with a chapter on the biosynthesis of bitter compounds-caffeine, quinine, naringin, quassin and hop bitter acids (Robins et a/.). The second section deals with sources of bitterness: thermally produced bitter-tasting compounds (Maga); bitterness in alcoholic beverages, mainly vermouths (Chialva and Dada); bitterness/astringency in cider (Lea), wine (Noble) and tea (Yamanishi). This section continues with chapters on coffee bitterness (McCamey et a!.), dairy products (Schmidt) and a useful chapter on bitterness in food plants, mainly vegetables (Fenwick et

d). The third section deals with the separation and identification of bitter compounds in beer (Cowles et al.) and in defatted soybean flour (Chang et al.) The last section deals with methods for the removal of undesir- able bitter compounds from soy (Marshall) and citrus juices using cyclodextrin polymers (Shaw) and by ad- sorption (Puri). The chapter on the biochemistry of limonoid citrus juice bitter principles and biochemical debittering processes (Hasegawa and Maier) is difficult for the non-specialist to follow as the structures, pro- mised as Appendix 1, appear to be missing. Overall I found this book disappointing, which is probably more a reflection of our lack of knowledge of bitterness and its structure/activity relationships than criticism of the indi- vidual chapters. However, it is rather repetitive: most topics are discussed in more than one chapter. Also the proof reading does not appear to be up to the usual high Elsevier standard. I am still looking for Aduances in Good Research! Nevertheless, this is a book that most people working with bitter compounds will need to consult.

ROGER STEVENS Threlkeld