Interview with the inventor – Professor Alexey Tyrkov

Interview with Prof. Alexey Tyrkov, Dean of the Chemical Department of ASU, Supervisor of the research project “Food Product”, Director of the Green Chemistry Research & Educational Center.

– What’s the object of patenting in your research?

– This invention relates to the food industry. The Food Product applies honey obtained from lophanthus anisatus, which has valuable biologically active substance and which is a splendid melliferous herb – it’s even better than linden. A disadvantage of any honey, as it’s well-known, is its quick crystallization, which reduces a number of organoleptic and market properties of this product. The patented technical result is the quality of honey that we obtained from flowers of lophanthus anisatus. We aimed to enhance the organoleptic properties of our product and prolong its shelf life without crystallization. The combination of its components – vitamins, microelements, and fillers (blackberry, mulberry, fructose, and fructose syrup) provides a synergetic effect. A particular proportion of fructose and honey prolongs the shelf life of this product without losing its organoleptic properties and prevents its crystallization – this is what we patented.

– What are the valuable properties of this product?

– The contents of sugar in our Food Product is low; thanks to that, people suffering from diabetes can eat it. Besides, this product has fewer calories if compared with other types of honey. The proportion of microelements and other nutritional stuff as a complex of organic acids, vitamins, and provitamins provides an additional nutritional value. This product has a bittersweet taste (like plum) and a pleasant fruit smell.

– What are the prospects of your further R&D?

– The product has a real commercialization potential. We presented it at the Pharmacy-2012 Exhibition in Moscow: visitors showed profound interest in it and bought it actively. Now we’re planning to grow lophanthus anisatus ourselves. Our University has a large cultivation area in the village of Nachalo; we’re now working to provide good irrigation. We’ve been provided with a site to cultivate lophanthus; later on, we’ll need hives and specialists in beekeeping. You can’t find such honey on sale, so competition will be low.

Interviewed by T.Yu. Gavrilkina (the Web Resources Information Support Directorate of ASU)

November 14, 2016

Translated by E.I. Glinchevskiy (the Center of Translation Studies & Conference Interpreting “ASTLINK” of ASU)