Sequential steps of the incorporation of bioactive plant extracts from wild Italian Plantago coronopus L. and Cichorium intybus L. leaves in fresh egg pasta
The application of bioactive extracts from Cichorium intybus L. and Plantago coronopus L. species were incorporated
as a functional ingredient in fresh egg pasta (Fettuccine). In that sense, a pasta making procedure was
accessed using different concentrations of the plant extracts (0.25–0.63 mg/g), drying times (20–420 min) and
drying temperatures (40–90 ◦C; only for P. coronopus enriched pasta), to screen an optimal factor selection in the
pasta making procedure and to enhance the bioactive properties of the final product. In the chemical characterisation
of the plant extracts, twenty-five phenolic compounds were tentatively identified (twenty compounds
belonging to phenolic acid and phenylpropanoid classes and five belonging to the flavonoid sub-class) and a
strong synergy between the plant extract concentration and the drying time was showed. The analysed antioxidant
properties were enhanced by the phenolic compounds of the extracts and a new functional food with higher
bioactive quality was developed.
The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology
(FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for
financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2020); the national funding
by FCT, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment
program-contract for L. Barros, and C. Pereira contracts and for B.
Melgar (NORTE-06-3559-FSE-000188) contracts through the individual
program-contract. This work is supported by: European Investment
Funds by FEDER/COMPETE/POCI–Operacional Competitiveness and
Internationalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-
006958 and National Funds by FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science
and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033/2013.
