Effect of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) on the quality of four edible flowers: Viola x wittrockiana, Centaurea cyanus, Borago officinalis and Camellia japonica Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Edible flowers are becoming more popular, but they are quite perishable with short shelf life. Until this moment, the unique technologies used by the industry are cold storage, hot air convective drying, freeze-drying and other drying methods. In this sense, finding new food technologies able to increase the shelf-life of this kind of product will bring important economic benefits. Hence, high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatments appear as good alternatives to extend shelf life and keep the original freshness, taste and odour of products. So, the aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of HHP on the appearance, bioactivity (total phenolics, flavonoids, hydrolysable tannins, monomeric anthocyanins, DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power) and microbial content (total aerobic mesophilic, yeast and molds, lactic acid bacteria, total coliforms, Escherichia coli and psychrotrophic bacteria) of four edible flowers (pansies, centaurea, borage and camellia) along storage at 4 °C. Several treatments at 75 to 450 MPa and holding times (1, 5 and 10 min) were applied. Borage and camellia were unacceptable after all treatments, while centaurea showed good appearance at 100/5 MPa/min; however, the shelf life didn’t increase. Pansies treated at 75/5 and 75/10 MPa/min also retained the appearance of fresh flowers. Furthermore, pansies submitted at 75/5 MPa/min maintained good appearance over 20 days of storage at 4 °C, while the untreated remained satisfactory only until 6 days. Even though no significant differences on microbial load were observed between untreated and HHP treated pansies in day 0, HHP induced the production of bioactive compounds, increasing the shelf-life of pansies. In conclusion, the HHP treatment of pansies at 75 MPa for short holding times is a promising technology to extend pansies’ shelf-life.

publication date

  • January 1, 2017