Treatment of tobacco

Abstract

Methods of fermenting a tobacco material and methods of modifying the total bacterial content of a tobacco material are provided herein. One example method includes treating a tobacco material with superheated steam in a pressurized vessel to provide a steam-treated tobacco material having a reduced total bacteria content and fermenting the steam-treated tobacco material in the presence of one or more microorganisms to provide a fermented tobacco material. In some embodiments, the methods provided herein can provide a fermented tobacco material having a tobacco-specific nitrosamine content that is reduced relative to a fermented tobacco material that has not been subjected to the disclosed method steps and / or a modified flavor or aroma profile relative to a fermented tobacco material that has not been subjected to the disclosed method steps.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 16 / 430,813, filed Jun. 4, 2019, which is continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15 / 902,397, filed Feb. 22, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14 / 712,360, filed May 14, 2015, each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to modifications to methods of growing and harvesting plants (such as tobacco), to methods of handling and treating harvested plants and plant materials for use in the preparation of plant-derived products (such as tobacco products); and particularly to those methods related to processed tobaccos that are considered to be subjected to so-called fermentation processing conditions. More particularly, the present invention relates to technologies associated with the manufacturing of products made or derived from tobacco, or that otherwise inc...