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An attempt has been made for drying of Bauhinia variegata flowers along with retaining its quality attributes. The effect of various pre‐treatments namely, steam blanching (0–6 min), potassium metabisulfite (KMS) (0–3,000 ppm), citric acid (0%–1%), and dipping time (0–45 min) was evaluated on physico‐chemical as well as phytochemical potential of dried B. variegata flowers. The optimized conditions (blanching time 1.20 min, KMS 1,031 ppm, citric acid 0.35%, and dipping time 18.72 min) for the pre‐treatment of B. variegata flowers resulted in desirable retention of the quality attributes (moisture: 14.34%, ash: 3.50%, phenolic: 407.67 mg/100 g, ascorbic acid: 66.38 mg/100 g, protein: 24.18 mg/100 g, tannins: 301 mg/100 g, antioxidant activity: 87.40%, flavonoids: 280.73 mg/100 g, and overall acceptability: 7.57). Cluster analysis revealed that all variables have significant and equal effect on the quality attributes of dried B. variegata flowers. Analysis through FTIR and HPLC counter confirmed the significant effect of the variables. Novelty impact statement: The Kachnar (Bauhinia variegata) is not only distributed throughout the India but has its roots throughout the world. It has gained popularity as a medicinal tree traditionally and is being utilized for curing different diseases. Despite of its composition and various health benefits, its commercial utilization is limited because of its availability at limited places for limited time. At various locations, the optimised conditions will aid in obtaining the joy of this nutritive flower for a much longer period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Application of weak acid and preservatives on tomatoes has the potential to reduce the loss of functional properties during drying. The effects of using sodium metabisulphite (SMB) and citric acid (CA) to control the degradation of nutraceuticals in dried tomatoes were studied. The following treatments: T0 (control, no additives), T1 (1% w/v CA), T2 (0.5% w/v CA +0.5% w/v SMB), and drying methods (dehydration, sun, and solar) were used. The T2 pretreated samples, dried using the sun, solar, and dehydration had total soluble solids (TSS) (5.10%), total sugar (TS) (7.32 g/100 g), and rehydration ratio (RR) (2.0) and β‐carotene (30.0 mg/100 g), lycopene (51.3 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid (14.1 mg/100 g), respectively. The T2 pretreated and dehydrated samples had a high Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity. By using T2 treatment and dehydration, the tomato had the best functional properties, which would be used as optimal conditions for preserving tomatoes. Novelty impact statement: Hybrid Amukela Plus tomatoes pretreated with 0.5% w/v CA +0.5% w/v SMB and dried ‐in a food dehydrator preserved ‐further degradation of nutraceutical compounds and resulted in a β‐carotene (30.0 mg/100 g), lycopene (51.3 mg/100 g), and ascorbic acid (14.1 mg/100 g) content during storage. These treatments produced dried tomatoes with over 50% Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity. Solar and sun‐drying treatments have significant damage on the nutraceutical compounds in the dried hybrid tomatoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effect of vacuum impregnation (VI) times on quality and healthy potential attributes of fresh‐cut apples was modeled, determining optimal processing times. Mild VI treatments (67.7 mbar vacuum pressure, 30 oBrix sucrose osmotic solution containing citric and ascorbic acids) were applied with vacuum (tv) and relaxation (tr) times of 1.14 to 14 min through a central composite design. After VI, respiration rate decreased as tv increased but increased with tr. Bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity increased with both processing times. Optimal tv and tr obtained for minimizing respiration rate and maximizing the attributes related to sensory quality were 6.18 and 1.14 min. Otherwise, optimal tv and tr for minimizing the respiration rate, maximizing the related sensory properties, and the health potential of fresh‐cut apples were longer (10.18 and 6.21 min). Mild VI, with an antioxidant solution at appropriate VI times, is an adequate technology for obtaining fresh‐cut apples with improved fresh‐like quality and healthy characteristics. Novelty impact statement: This study showed that mild vacuum impregnation treatment with an antioxidant solution is an adequate technology for processing fresh‐cut apples with improved healthy potential. The optimal vacuum and relaxation times improve the fresh‐cut apple qualities and its health potential after 7 days of storage at 1.5°C if both are suitably selected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jujube fruit, well‐known for its nutraceutical potential such as flavonoids, anthocyanins, organic acids, and phenolic compounds, is being explore as a functional ingredient in a wide array of health foods and drinks. It should be noted that there were no reported data about characteristics of the functional beverage of jujube. Therefore, in this study, it was prepared using jujube concentrate (40, 50, 60 ml), water (60, 50, 40 ml), citric acid (0.0, 0.08, 0.06, 0.1% wt/vol), and sugar (0, 7, 8, 9% wt/vol) in different ratios. Then, different factors including physicochemical parameters, bioactive compounds, sensory acceptability, instrumental color, and microbial quality, of jujube beverages were periodically analyzed during 4 months. The results indicated that the storage at 4°C caused a slight increase in total phenolic and total flavonoid contents for up to 30 days, but a significant (p <.05) decrease was observed in both parameters after a 120‐day storage. In addition, the content of vitamin C decreased (by 22.60%–43.81%) significantly (p <.05) at 4°C as the storage progressed. The formulated beverage containing three parts of jujube concentrate, two parts of water, and 0.1% citric acid exhibited superior sensory and microbial quality characteristics compared to the other samples. Practical applications: Due to nutritional and technological effects of the bioactive compounds, in the present research, we produced a value‐added functional beverage using jujube concentrate, sugar, and citric acid in different concentrations resulting in a "ready‐to‐drink" product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Banana pulps (ripe and overripe) were taken to investigate the effectiveness of various anti‐browning agents (0.1 and 0.2% potassium metabisulfite (KMS), 1 and 2% citric acid (CA), 1% ascorbic acid (AA), 1% CA + 0.5% L‐cysteine, 1% CA + 0.5% CaCl2, 1% CA + 1% AA + 0.5% cysteine) to prevent enzymatic browning. Based on the polyphenol oxidase activity, color and sensory attributes, the most effective anti‐browning agent was selected. Results showed that KMS at 0.1% was most effective in inhibiting the browning reaction, which was further used for evaluating the effect of frozen storage (−16°C) for 180 days along with control. But the control sample lasted for 30 days. In ripe pulp: TSS, total and reducing sugars increased, whereas in overripe it decreased during storage but, the pH remained stable. The ascorbic acid, carotenoids, phenols, and color value decreased for both samples slightly during freeze storage. Practical applications: The response of enzymatic browning in banana pulp to different anti‐browning agents is highly variable. In our findings, we found that potassium metabisulfite (KMS) is highly effective in inhibiting (100%) polyphenol oxidase activity. Further, banana pulp stored with KMS treatments showed a slight variation in physicochemical attributes during frozen storage (−16°C) for 180 days. The banana pulp seems to be an important food industrial application by increasing economic value along with waste reduction by minimize losses during postharvest. However, providing the producer an alternative use for converting pulp into various valuable products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sunflower microgreens are nutrient‐dense food requiring minimal input but are highly perishable in nature. Low cost, generally regarded as safe (GRAS) chemical treatments (ethanol vapor [EV], citric acid [CA], ascorbic acid [AA], CA + ethanol [CA + E] and CA + AA, distilled water as a control) and packaging in polystyrene trays at 10 ± 1°C was used to extend their shelf life up to 16 days. Electrical conductivity decreased till 4th day and then increased from 4th to 16th day. Control followed by CA + AA had least electrical conductivity on 16th day. CA + AA followed by control and AA retained highest amount of total chlorophylls and carotenoids, respectively, whereas, a maximum decline was observed in EV and CA + E. AA. The treatments CA + AA, CA, and AA retained maximum amount of ascorbic acid, total phenols, and DPPH scavenging activity with least microbial load at the end of storage, respectively, whereas EV and CA + E exhibited a maximum decline. AA and CA + AA treatments were most effective in enhancing the shelf life of sunflower microgreens. Practical applications: Microgreens are nutrient‐dense functional crops that are consumed fresh. They have a short growing span, do not require much inputs for growth, and have high nutrient composition than their mature counterparts. They have a high seed to biomass ratio and are microbiologically safe when grown indoors under a controlled environment. The current food system revolves around the consumption of fresh fully developed vegetables from fields. Microgreens can transform this and shift the focus to a new product that can be grown in urban setups, even homes, with minimal input and maximum output. It is quick and delivers healthy produce that does not have to be transported to great distances to be consumed. It saves transportation costs, reduce wastage, and spoilage that might take place in the transport chain and brings nutrient‐dense food to the masses. The actual price of the food will also be less due to reduced cost of labor, infrastructure, and transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Heating drying processes may cause undesirable changes in tomato composition and loss of quality, mainly in bioactive components. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of oven drying, heated air flow, and freeze‐drying on blanched and unblanched tomatoes. This allows choosing drying conditions with less undesirable changes. The contents of sugar, citric acid, ascorbic acid, lycopene, β‐carotene, and total phenolic compounds, and 5‐hydroxy‐2‐furaldehyde (HMF) formation were evaluated. Results revealed that samples with lower sugar content also showed higher level of HMF. The heated air flow lead to low HMF formation, low reduction of sugar and a higher concentration of lycopene, β‐carotene, phenolics, and ascorbic acid. Freeze drying lead to low levels of carotenes in the end product. In conclusion, fractions of lycopene, β‐carotene, phenolics were increased by blanching, and losses of sugars, HMF, ascorbic acid were related to blanching. Practical applications: The actual applications of this research are to evaluate the behavior of bioactive components in tomatoes that underwent different drying methods. Different processing parameters may lead to undesirable changes in composition of tomatoes and cause loss of quality in dried products. The potential applications are to evaluate which parameters are capable to maintain the higher quality levels in the end product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potato is rich in nutrition and easily gets surface browning in short term after fresh-cut processing, significantly reducing its commercial value. In this article, fresh-cut potatoes were treated with L-cysteine (L-cys), citric acid (CA), ascorbic acid (AA), and ultrasonication. The response surface analysis was used to determine the best browning-inhibiting treatment. The optimum condition to inhibit browning was the solution containing 0.06% L-cys, 0.19% CA, and 0.09% AA plus with 130 W ultrasonication. Under this condition, the browning degree (BD) of fresh-cut potato after 15 days storage was 3.32 ± 0.06, which was closed to the predicted value. Moreover, the BD, polyphenol oxidase, and peroxidase activities of treated potatoes were significantly lower than those of untreated potatoes. In summary, the browning process of fresh-cut potatoes was inhibited, and the sensory quality was improved with the optimal antibrowning treatment. Practical applications The optimal browning-inhibiting formula was determined by the response surface method. The application of antibrowning agents and ultrasonication efficiently inhibited the activities of polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase, increasing shelf life and consumers' acceptability during the process of raw potato products. The optimized antibrowning treatment is safe, economic and applicable, which can be used to slow down the browning of fresh-cut potato theoretically and technically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated the effectiveness of dipping treatments on reducing enzymatic browning of apple cubes for infrared dry-blanching (IDB) process. Apple cubes were dipped in solutions with various combinations of ascorbic acid (AA), citric acid (CA) and calcium chloride (CC) at different concentrations (0.1–1.5%) for up to 10 min. Some dipped samples were further blanched with the IDB method. Color and texture of the dipped samples with and without blanching were determined after the samples were exposed in ambient air for up to 100 min. Results showed that the combination of any two chemicals among the three chemicals tested could effectively reduce browning rate. Dipping treatments of CC or CC + AA resulted in firmer samples after IDB than the controls and those treated with AA + CA. Dipping in 0.5% AA + 0.5% CC for 5 min is recommended as pretreatment of apple cubes for IDB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of three chemical dips using ascorbic acid (AA), citric acid (CA) and calcium chloride (CC) on the polyphenoloxidase (PPO) activity and on the total phenolic content of minimally processed (MP) apple (Malus domestica,cv. Jonagored) during cold storage was evaluated and a potential relationship with enzymatic browning was investigated. An ascorbic acid dip (42.6 mM) of 5 min duration was the most efficient chemical treatment in reducing the PPO activity of apple cubes. A 92% inhibition was achieved after 7 days of storage at 4C. All treatments were advantageous in comparison to the control in reducing color changes. Color changes, determined by absorbance at 420 nm (soluble pigments) and lightness (L) (insoluble pigments) of apple cubes treated with ascorbic acid were correlated with total phenolic content. No correlation was observed between PPO activity and tristimulus color parameters, browning index or total phenolic content of AA-treated apple cubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]