Chemical Composition of Pine Sprouts and Pine Needles for the Production of Pine Sprout Tea

송순차 제조를 위한 송순 및 솔잎의 화학적 조성

As a basic study for preparing pine sprout tea, chemical components in pine sprouts and pine needles were analyzed as follows: In proximate composition the contents of most components except for crude fat were different between in pine sprouts and pine needles. Moisture content in pine sprouts was higher than that in pine needles. Calcium and potassium were major minerals contained in pine sprouts and needles, and their contents in pine needles picked in December were higher than those picked in June. Soluble tannin and vitamin C contents in leaf part of pine sprouts were much higher than those in stem part and their contents in pine needles were increased according to their growth. Free sugars like fructose, glucose and sucrose were contained in both pine sprouts and needles, and their contents in pine sprouts were higher in stem part as compared that in leaf part. Although fourteen kinds of amino acids were detected in pine sprouts and pine needles, their contents were extremely low. Amino acid composition between pine sprouts and pine needles was different each other, but major amino acids contained in them were same, those are acidic amino acids such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid. Amino acid contents in pine needles were increased according to the growth. In fatty acid composition in leaf part of pine sprouts, saturated fatty acid contents were higher than unsaturated fatty acid contents, but in stem part unsaturated fatty acid contents were higher. In pine needles the amount of saturated fatty acid was increased with the growth, but the amount of unsaturated fatty acid was rather decreased.