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Summary: Cooking is an essential aspect of everyday life. Cooking oils and methods exert enormous effects on the nutritional, physicochemical, microbial qualities, and bioactive compounds of vegetables. Most of them are either directly or indirectly related to human health. Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to find out the effect of two cooking methods (traditional and steam cooking) and four selected culinary oils (soybean oil, mustard oil, extra virgin olive oil, and extra virgin coconut oil) on the cooked vegetables. The results indicated that steam‐cooked mixed vegetables retained more nutrients than traditional ones. The traditional cooking method of preparing mixed vegetables with soybean oil revealed higher amounts of crude fat, 26.90 ± 0.10%, whereas steam cooking and traditionally cooked vegetables without oils showed lower amounts of crude fat, 1.21 ± 0.04%, and 1.94 ± 0.04%, respectively. The highest crude fibre from 5.68 ± 0.20 to 6.48 ± 0.02% was recorded by the steam‐cooked vegetables in comparison with traditionally prepared mixed vegetables. Traditionally cooked vegetables with mustard oil showed a higher crude protein (13.30 ± 0.10%). The mixed vegetables that were steam‐cooked using extra virgin olive oil revealed a decreased percent of carbohydrates, 49.42 ± 0.03%. Most of the essential minerals especially for the human body like Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, and Zn were found notable in both traditional and steam‐cooking processes using extra virgin olive oil, and mustard oil. The leading bioactive compound ß‐carotene 67.04 ± 0.04 mg/100 g was noted by the steam‐cooked vegetables with mustard oil. The highest anthocyanin 32.69 ± 0.02 mg/100 g and ascorbic acid 42.31 ± 0.01 mg/100 g were recorded in the steam‐cooked vegetables without culinary oils. Steam‐cooking with extra virgin coconut and olive oil resulted in high total carotenoid and phenolic content (31.60 ± 0.05 and 3.11 ± 0.04 mg/100 g, respectively). However, the findings suggest that culinary oils used in the present study retained more essential minerals and bioactive compounds than soybean oil. Only sufficient amount of edible oil may be used for vegetables cooking and proper functioning of fat‐soluble vitamins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of postharvest oxalic acid (OA) application on chilling injury (CI) in harvested mango fruit (Mangifera indica L.) were investigated using 'Tommy Atkins' fruit from Florida and 'Zill' fruit from Panzhihua. TheOAwas applied to harvested fruit as a 5 or 10 mM drench for 10 or 15 minutes at 25 °C. 'Tommy Atkins' fruit typically develop external CI symptoms while 'Zill' develops internal symptoms. Development of CI symptoms was significantly reduced in OA-treated 'Tommy Atkins' fruit stored for 18 days at 5 °C as was the rate of softening upon transfer to 25 °C for 4 days. However, OA treatment did not substantially control fruit decay. For 'Zill', CI development was significantly reduced in OA-treated fruit during storage at 10 °C for 49 days and subsequently for 4 days at 25 °C. In addition, membrane integrity was enhanced and the activities of the antioxidant system enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR) were elevated, although there were decreases in both hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content and superoxide radical production in OA-treated fruit. The activities of some enzymes of the energy cycle were also elevated in the OA-treated fruit, including succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), cytochrome C oxidase (CCO), H+-adenosine triphosphatase (H+-ATPase), and Ca2+- adenosine triphosphatase (Ca2+-ATPase). Thus, OA may enhance CI tolerance in mango fruit by maintaining membrane integrity associated with enhanced antioxidant activity and regulation of energy metabolism. Application of 5 mM OA appears to be beneficial in controlling postharvest CI in mango fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]