Aceites esenciales de plantas nativas del Perú: Efecto del lugar de cultivo en las características fisicoquímicas y actividad antioxidante

Los aceites esenciales (AE) son usados como conservantes en la industria de alimentos, debido a sus características fisicoquímicas y actividad antioxidante. El objetivo de esta investigación fue determinar rendimiento (R), gravedad específica (GE), índice de refracción (IR), actividad antioxidante (AA) y composición química de AE de huacatay (Tagetes minuta), poleo (Minthostachys mollis), romero (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) y sachaculantro (Eryngium foetidum L.), plantas recolectadas de 52 distritos de la región Amazonas, Perú. Para cada AE se usó análisis de varianza de efectos fijos con tres repeticiones y análisis de clúster. La actividad antioxidante se determinó con el método del radical libre 2,2-difenil-1-picrilhidracilo (DPPH) y sus componentes más abundantes fueron identificados con cromatografía de gases acoplada a espectrometría de masas. Las diferencias en R, GE e IR fueron significativas entre distritos. La AA no mostró diferencia significativa entre los distritos, pero entre las plantas sí. Entre los componentes volátiles más abundantes se identificó 1–adamantanol (44,42%) en huacatay, β–felandreno (20,85%) en poleo, β–mirceno (34,59%) en romero y α–pineno (23,41%) en sachaculantro. Se concluye que el lugar geográfico afecta significativamente las propiedades fisicoquímicas de los AE

Evaluation of Cooking Quality, Nutritional and Texture Characteristics of Pasta Added with Oat Bran and Apple Flour

This study reports the effect of the addition of oat bran and apple flour on the cooking quality, digestibility, antioxidant, nutritional and texture characteristics of a spaghetti-type pasta. Pasta samples were prepared by substituting 50% of durum wheat semolina with oat bran (OBP) or apple flour (AFP). AFP presented higher cooking loss and water absorption index than the control pasta prepared with 100% durum wheat semolina (WSP). The supplementation of pasta with oat bran increased the total dietary fiber content (16.43% w/w, dw), while apple flour decreased the protein content (11.16% w/w, dw). There was no significant difference in the resistant starch content among all pasta samples. The pasta samples made with 50/50 durum wheat semolina/oat bran and 50/50 durum wheat semolina/apple flour increased the antioxidant activity by ≈46% and ≈97%, respectively. The OBP and AFP samples had a similar texture to the control pasta. A 50% replacement of durum wheat semolina with oat bran in a pasta formulation decreased the caloric content and digestibility of its starch components. These attributes found in the oat bran pasta and apple flour pasta make them a healthy choice for the diet of people with specific nutritional needs

Elaboration and Characterization of Active Apple Starch Films Incorporated with Ellagic Acid

Apple starch films were obtained from apples harvested at 60, 70, 80 and 90 days after full bloom (DAFB). Mechanical properties and water vapor permeability (WVP) were evaluated. The apple starch films at 70 DAFB presented higher values in the variables of tensile strength (8.12 MPa), elastic modulus (3.10 MPa) and lower values of water vapor permeability (6.77 × 10−11 g m−1 s−1 Pa−1) than apple starch films from apples harvested at 60, 80 and 90 DAFB. Therefore, these films were chosen to continue the study incorporating ellagic acid (EA). The EA was added at three concentrations [0.02% (FILM-EA0.02%), 0.05% (FILM-EA0.05%) and 0.1% (FILM-EA0.1%) w/w] and compared with the apple starch films without EA (FILM-Control). The films were characterized by their physicochemical, optical, morphological and mechanical properties. Their thermal stability and antioxidant capacity were also evaluated. The FILM-Control and FILM-EA0.02% showed a uniform surface, while FILM-EA0.05% and FILM-EA0.1% showed a rough surface and insoluble EA particles. Compared to FILM-Control, EA modified the values of tensile strength, elasticity modulus and elongation at break. The antioxidant capacity increased as EA concentration did. EA incorporation allowed obtaining films with higher antioxidant capacity, capable of blocking UV light with better mechanical properties than film without EA