Peyvand Gholipour; Mohammad Fazel
Abstract
Introduction: Ficus carica, commonly known as fig, is among the oldest types of fruit known to mankind. Drying is defined as a thermal process under controlled conditions in order to reduce the moisture in different types of food via evaporation. Edible films and coatings are used to enhance food quality ...
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Introduction: Ficus carica, commonly known as fig, is among the oldest types of fruit known to mankind. Drying is defined as a thermal process under controlled conditions in order to reduce the moisture in different types of food via evaporation. Edible films and coatings are used to enhance food quality by precluding oxidation and color changes in inappropriate conditions. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is thus widely used to improve food shelf life.
Materials and methods: All experiments were carried out on fresh edible green variety figs planted in the county of Neyriz Estahban. The figs were then immersed in the following solutions:
Distilled water as a control variable without coating; carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) solution 1% containing 0.25 gr/L glycerol; and CMC solution 1% containing 0.25 gr/L glycerol and 2% ascorbic acid. Preliminary tests including average diameter, pH, total flavonoids content, and antioxidant activity were performed on the figs. The fruits were dried using a device designed by the authors. At 60 ̊C, 70 ̊C, and 80 ̊C, the airflow in the device was 0.5 m/s, 1.0 m/s, and 1.5 m/s, respectively. After drying the samples, secondary experiments were performed which, in addition to the previous tests, included texture analysis, water reabsorption, volume measurement, shrinkage, and color analysis. A total of 27 treatments were applied in 3 rounds. A full factorial design was employed for statistical analyses while average values were compared via Duncan’s test at 5% significance. Calculations were performed using SPSS 16.0.
Results & Discussion: Using CMC coating, shrinkage increased compared to the control sample. As airflow accelerates from 0.5 m/s to 1.5 m/s, higher levels of shrinkage are observed. This could be attributed to the drier surface of the fruit caused by faster airflow. Shrinkage increases with the speed of airflow going from 0.5 m/s to 1.5 m/s. This is because at higher speeds, the sample is dried in a shorter period of time and sustains less damage.
Water reabsorption was found to decrease with higher temperature and airflow. Weak reabsorption results from the breakdown of the internal structure of the fruits.
CMC-ascorbic acid, CMC, and the control sample had the highest to lowest levels of firmness, respectively. The acid was found to preserve the internal cellular structure and preserve its breakdown. Moreover, firmness increases with the drying temperature.
According to the results, the samples coated with CMC and CMC-ascorbic acid had lower pH compared to the control sample. Airflow speed and temperature are inversely and directly related to pH, respectively.
In the CMC-ascorbic acid treatment, antioxidant capacity increased compared to the other two treatments. This may be associated with ascorbic acid’s higher ability to act as a carrier of anti-browning agents. Also, higher levels of antioxidant behavior were observed with higher temperature as it causes faster drying. Moreover, the coating acts to preserve the antioxidant and eliminates the impact of temperature.
The highest amount of flavonoids was observed in the CMC-ascorbic acid treatment followed by the control sample and the CMC treatment. This is because the ascorbic acid serves to maintain the flavonoids in the samples. The flavonoid content increases with the airflow speed since the sample is dried in a shorter duration and the flavonoids are preserved. However, higher temperature reduces the flavonoid content since heat damages the pigment.
The application of the CMC coating (alone or in combination with ascorbic acid) increased luminance compared to the control sample due to the preventative effect of the edible coating on the oxidation of the pigments in the fig samples. With faster airflows, surface moisture begins to vary which causes the coating to become lighter with higher L*. An increase in the temperature leads to lower L* as the heat causes the carotenoids and chlorophyll to break down and form brown pigments in the samples.
Using the CMC-ascorbic acid coating increases a* in figs. Furthermore, as the temperature goes up from 60 ̊C, a* also increases.
The coated samples demonstrate higher levels of b* compared to the control sample. In fact, the coating preserves the pigments and thus maintains the yellow color of the figs. The value of b* is directly related to the speed of the airflow because it decreases drying time. As a result, the product undergoes less heat. Finally, higher temperature leads to higher b* in the dried figs.
Elahe Maghsoudlou; Reza Esmaeilzadeh kenari; Zeynab Raftani Amiri
Abstract
Introduction: Lipid oxidation is a complex series of reactions that occurs during processing, storage and final preparation of foods containing lipids (Bera et al., 2006). Among the various methods of protection against oxidation, specific additives are used which are antioxidants (Pokorny et al., 2006).Polyphenols ...
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Introduction: Lipid oxidation is a complex series of reactions that occurs during processing, storage and final preparation of foods containing lipids (Bera et al., 2006). Among the various methods of protection against oxidation, specific additives are used which are antioxidants (Pokorny et al., 2006).Polyphenols are natural antioxidants that possess characteristic properties, such as free-radical scavenging and inhibition of oxidizing processes in the body. For using of phenolic compound, they must be extracted from plant material. Traditional methods of extraction are labor-intensive, time consuming, and require large volumes of solvent (Wang and Weller, 2006(. In recent years, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) has become an effective method for edible oils and fats from natural product extraction. UAE is an inexpensive, simple and efficient alternative to conventional extraction techniques (Chen et al., 2010). The mechanism of UAE is attributed to mechanical and cavitation efficacies which can result in disruption of cell wall, particle size reduction, and enhanced mass transfer across cell membrane (Wang, Wu, Chen, Yue, Liang, & Wu, 2013). Figs are an excellent source of phenolic compounds and some studies have described the presence of several phenolic compounds in this species (Solomon et al., 2006; Teixeira et al., 2006; Vaya and Mahmood, 2006). However, according to our knowledge, there are no studies about the detailed investigation of different parts of the fig and evaluation of its oxidative stability. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate antioxidant activity of pulp and skin of two varieties of fig (Siyah and Sabz) and its application as natural antioxidant in canola oil.
Material and methods: Fig fruit (F. carica L.) from two selected commercial varieties: Siyah and Sabz wwere collected from Gorgan, Iran in September 2014. Canola oil was purchased from Alia Golestan Company (Kordkooy, Iran). All other chemicals used in this study were of analytical grade and were purchased from chemical suppliers such as Merck and Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Companies.
The figs were weighed and immediately peeled. The pulp was cut and made into flat sheets. Thereafter, the pulp and skin of each fruit were shade-dried for 5 days followed by drying at 60 ℃ in an oven for 24 hours to ensure complete drying (Memmert 100-800, Germany). The samples were then milled and sieved. Samples obtained were kept in polyethylene bags.
Dried fig powders were mixed with ethanol (1:10), then placed in ultrasonic bath, and then sonicated at 37 kHz for 20 min at 40°C by Elma Transsonic ultrasonic bath model 690/H (Cottbus, Germany). The extract was filtered and subsequently evaporated at 40 ℃ in an oven. The concentrated extracts were stored at -18 C until further analyses (EsmaeilzadehKenari et al., 2014).Extracts were used in concentrations of 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 mg/ml.
Phenolic compounds and flavonoids were measured by Folincio-calteu and aluminum chloride, respectively. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using DPPH and reducing power tests. Then we assessed the efficiency of extract of skin fig of Siyah variety at 1 mg/ml the oxidative stability using Peroxide, thiobarbituric acid, conjugate di en, acid value, Oxidativestabilityindexand colorindex in canola oil during thermal conditions (180 ℃, 24 hours) compared with Synthetic antioxidants of TBHQ.
Results and discussion: The fig extracts contained different antioxidative fractions which were able to inhibit lipid oxidation effectively, by different mechanisms of action. Antioxidant activity of Siyah variety extract was higher than that of Sabz variety extract; furthermore, skin extracts were found to render higher antioxidant activity than pulp extracts. The stabilization effect of Siyah fig skin extract on canola oil (using peroxide, thiobarbituric acid, conjugate di en, acid values, oxidative stability index and color index) was comparable with the synthetic antioxidant (TBHQ).Therefore, skin of Siyah fig can be used as a potent source of natural antioxidant in food system.
Elahe Maghsoudlou; Reza Esmaeilzadeh kenari; Zeynab Raftani Amiri
Abstract
Recently, Subcritical Water Extraction (SWE) has been well known as a green technology for extraction of bioactive compounds from plants. In this study, Subcritical water extraction, ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) and shaker solvent extraction (SSE) were compared for extraction of phenolic compounds ...
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Recently, Subcritical Water Extraction (SWE) has been well known as a green technology for extraction of bioactive compounds from plants. In this study, Subcritical water extraction, ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) and shaker solvent extraction (SSE) were compared for extraction of phenolic compounds from fig (Ficuscarica) pulp and skin. Antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using DPPH radical scavenging, reducing power and rancimat tests. Subcritical waterhad the highest ability for extraction of total phenolic content (65.89±0.21 and 80.79±0.09 mg of gallic acid equivalents per gram of extract respectively) and flavonoid compounds (7.51±0.33 and 10.1±1.02 mg of quercetinequivalents per gram of extract, respectively)from both pulp and skin.The lowest IC50 in DPPH radical scavenging and reducing power tests were related to SWE of skin extract of fig. Furthermore, in extraction of total phenol and flavonoid compounds, subcritical water extraction showed to be a more suitable method than other solvent extraction methods, both in pulp and skin.
