Abstract
Red Ginseng extracts sol'n was sterilized at 85f for 20 mins and/or stored at 4$0^{\circ}C$ for 6 months and centrifuged for 20 mins at 8,500xg in order to investigate the changes in chemical components of supernatants and the properties of precipitates. Contents of crude saponin and ginsenoside-$Rb_1$, -$Rg_1$, -Re were partially decreased during heating and storage. Starch contents were decreased from 26.81% in red ginseng extracts to 17.50-8.81% in supernatants, whereas free sugar contents were increased from 15.50% to 20.29~21.35% by heating and storage. The contents of protein and minerals in supernatants were decreased, but acidic polysaccharides and polyphenol compounds were not changed. pH values of supernatants and precipitates were decreased. The absorbances of brown color precursor and brown pigment in precipitates, detected at 285 nm and 440 nm were remarkably increased. The Overa11 data suggest that precipitates in red ginseng extracts sol'n formed during steilization and storage are provably the brown pigments resulting from Maillard reaction of amino compounds with reducing sugar which could be released from starch and protein matrix and $Cu^+$, $Ca^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ ions are implicated with the reaction incorporated.