Lo Mei Paste
Lo Mei Paste is a concentrated flavour paste built to give the profile of lo mei, the Cantonese term for meat and offal simmered in a spiced soy braising liquor. It combines a Maillard reaction base built from hydrolysed protein, reducing sugars and cysteine with a spice fraction drawn from star anise, cassia, sand ginger, liquorice, clove, bay, tangerine peel and white pepper, a fermented soy component that supplies colour and salt, and a refined fat that holds the lipophilic spice volatiles and releases them slowly during simmering.
It comes as a soft dark brown paste in pails or lined drums, and less often as a spray dried powder where a dry format is needed. The paste disperses in hot braising liquor with agitation but needs warmth to break down, so it is added early in the make up of a stock rather than at the end. Dosage in a braising liquid typically runs between 0.5 and 2 percent, adjusted as the stock is carried forward and topped up across successive batches. The fat fraction makes oxidative rancidity the limiting factor on shelf life, so the product is packed with minimal headspace and held cool.
We source bulk Lo Mei Paste from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Shandong. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Flavours and Aromas
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Dark brown soft paste, uniform, free of foreign matter |
| Odour and Taste | Characteristic braised soy and spice, savoury |
| Moisture | Not more than 15.0 percent |
| Fat | 20.0 to 40.0 percent |
| Sodium Chloride | As declared, plus or minus 2.0 percent |
| Amino Acid Nitrogen | Not less than 0.5 percent |
| pH at 1 percent dispersion | 5.0 to 6.5 |
| Peroxide Value | Not more than 5.0 meq per kg |
| Aflatoxin B1 | Not more than 5 microgram per kg |
| Lead | Not more than 1.0 mg per kg |
| Arsenic | Not more than 0.5 mg per kg |
| Total Plate Count | Not more than 10000 cfu per gram |
| Yeast and Mould | Not more than 100 cfu per gram |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades differ mainly in the balance between the reaction base and the spice fraction. Meat forward grades carry a heavier reaction load and are used where the aim is to deepen the cooked character of a lean or low grade cut. Spice forward grades carry more oleoresin and milled spice and are used where the braising liquor is otherwise plain. Species specific versions exist for pork, beef, chicken, duck and offal, each built on a different reaction base.
Salt and colour are the second axes. Catering grades run higher in salt so that the paste seasons as well as flavours, while industrial concentrates hold salt low and leave the salting to the formulator. Colour depth is specified separately, since part of the visual result of braising comes from the paste rather than from the meat, and caramel colour is present in most commercial grades. Buyers also specify the fat type, whether monosodium glutamate is present or umami comes from yeast extract, and halal or vegetarian status where the base must avoid animal fat.
Applications
- Braised pork belly, trotter and shank production, making up a braising liquor from a fresh water charge
- Marinated duck, duck wing and duck neck lines sold as chilled snack products
- Braised beef shin and tendon, where long simmering benefits from a slow releasing fat carrier
- Braised offal, where the spice fraction covers residual organ off notes
- Vacuum packed retail lo mei snacks, using a grade formulated to survive pasteurisation
- Chicken feet and wing tip products in the spiced snack category
- Marinated dried tofu and gluten in the vegetarian braised category
- Prepared braising stock concentrates sold to catering kitchens
- Ready meal braised meat components requiring consistent batch to batch flavour
- Instant noodle topping sachets containing braised meat pieces
China Manufacturers of Lo Mei Paste
Top Lo Mei Paste manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
In the United States the blend is regulated as a mixture of its components. The reaction flavour fraction is handled as a flavour under 21 CFR 101.22, spices and their oleoresins are generally recognised as safe under 21 CFR 182.10 and 182.20, monosodium glutamate is affirmed as generally recognised as safe under 21 CFR 182.1, the ribonucleotides are recognised flavour enhancers, and caramel colour is a colour additive exempt from certification under 21 CFR 73.85. Hydrolysed protein must be declared by a name identifying the source protein under 21 CFR 102.22.
In the European Union the reaction flavour falls under Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, which sets the permitted starting materials, reaction conditions and by product limits for thermal process flavourings. The additive components carry E numbers under Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, monosodium glutamate as E 621, disodium inosinate as E 631, disodium guanylate as E 627 and the caramel colours as E 150a to E 150d, each with defined conditions of use. Codex has adopted general standards covering the same enhancers and colours and general guidelines for flavourings, and JECFA has evaluated the glutamates, the ribonucleotides and the caramel colours. Soy, wheat, celery and sesame derived components trigger allergen declaration in both jurisdictions.
Manufacturing Process
The reaction base is made first. Hydrolysed vegetable or animal protein is combined with reducing sugars, cysteine, thiamine and a fat carrier and held in a jacketed pressurised reactor at controlled temperature and time until the target Maillard profile develops, then cooled and standardised against a reference sample. In parallel the spice fraction is prepared, either as cryogenically milled powder that is then steam sterilised, or as oleoresin recovered by solvent or supercritical carbon dioxide extraction with the solvent stripped under vacuum.
The two streams are combined in a heated jacketed mixer with refined fat, fermented soy solids, salt, sugar, caramel colour, yeast extract and any enhancer, and worked until the paste is homogeneous and the spice is evenly wetted by the fat phase. A short holding step at temperature allows the spice volatiles to migrate into the fat, which is what gives the paste its slow release behaviour in a braising liquor. The mass is then cooled to a fill temperature at which it is still pumpable, hot filled into pails or drums, cooled and packed. Powder grades take the same blend through emulsification and spray drying, followed by sieving and metal detection.
