Some studies have proven the antioxidant and antimicrobial potency of chestnut flowers both in the raw matrix and after extraction, and the consumption of their decoctions has been related to beneficial effects towards health. In recent years, due to controversy and ambiguous legislation of chemical conservatives, plant extracts have been successfully used as functionalizing agents in different matrixes, by displaying various beneficial effects towards the foodstuff and/or the consumer. In this manuscript, decoctions of chestnuts flowers as well as the dried flower were added to Portuguese traditional cakes that were then stored for 15 and 30 days, after which they were analysed for their antioxidant potential. The results were analysed by means of a 2 way ANOVA and a Linear Discriminant Analysis, concluding that storage time had a slightly higher influence in alteration of the antioxidant activity. DPPH and TBARS were the most improved parameters, regardless of the concentration added.
The authors are grateful to M. Ferreira e Filhas Lda. (Pão de Gimonde) for the cakes recipe, and to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal), for financial support to the CIMO research center (PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011) and for J.C.M. Barreira’s Post-Doctoral grant (BPD/72802/2010).
