Efficiency of conventional extraction technique compared to rapid-solid liquid dynamic extraction (RSLDE) in the preparation of bitter liquors and elixirs

Bitter liquors and elixirs are usually produced following traditional recipes, in most cases considered secret, that adopts different extraction processes and/or way of preparation. The ethanol as elective extraction solvent allows to obtain in the liquid phase most of the active compounds from different parts of the plants e.g. roots, bark, flowers, etc and the maceration is commonly used as extraction process. In this paper the traditional maceration procedure was compared to an innovative technology of rapid solid-liquid dynamic extraction (RSLDE), using the Naviglio Extractor. to obtain alcoholic extract of herbal mixtures.Three different mixtures of various parts of plants were extracted with both methods and results compared. The dry residue was considered as the main parameters to assess the quantity of the active compounds present in the extracts. The obtained data suggested that an high dry residue amount in the extract was correlated to an high concentration of active ingredients. Organoleptic tests performed on bitter liquors obtained from different extracts has been used to determine the optimum extraction time for the two different methods used. The results of this test showed that the bitters produced with RLSDE were more appreciated than bitter prepared by maceration