Patent 7097867 was granted and assigned to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research on August, 2006 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention relates to a process for obtaining oleoresin of improved color and pungency from chili, the said process comprising steps of: treating powder or flakes of chili by mixing with a multi enzyme preparation, incubating at a particular range pH, drying the enzyme treated chili powder/flakes to bring down the moisture level of about 5–12%, powdering or pelletizing to a particle size of about 20–30 mesh, soaking and extracting using a mixture of solvent for a period ranging between 1h to 3h; repeating the extraction and pooling the extracts, and concentrating the pooled extract to obtain oleoresin with enriched pungency and color.