Abstract

GONZALEZ-FANDOS, Elena  and  SIMON, Ana. Effect of cooking on antioxidant capacity and sensorial quality of minimally processed cauliflower. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2016, vol.33, n.2, pp.373-378. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.20960/nh.119.

The effect of a cooking treatment (boiling in water at 100 ^oC for 10 min) on antioxidant composition and sensorial quality of cauliflower that has been previously cut, packaged in a modified atmosphere (5.7-2.3% CO₂ and 17.6-19.7% O₂) and stored at 5 ^oC for up to 13 days has been studied in comparison with cauliflower at harvest day. An increase of ascorbic acid (18%), phenolics (74%) and antioxidant activity (21%) has been observed in stored cauliflower. But the cooking treatment has produced a loss of these compounds by leaching. These losses have been greater for stored cauliflower than for the initial one at harvest day (19% and 13% respectively for ascorbic acid and 31% and 28% respectively for phenolics). However, no variations in antioxidant activity by cooking effect were observed at harvest day, while variations were by 16% in stored cauliflower. As a result, the antioxidant activity of stored and cooked cauliflower became similar to that of the fresh cauliflower at harvest day. The storage of cauliflower has produced some changes of color (an increase in b* parameter from 19 to 20.9) and texture (an increase in shear force from 1948 N to 2375 N). The sensorial acceptability for color and taste of cooked stored cauliflower has been lower than that of the cooked cauliflower at harvest day, but inside acceptable levels. However, the increase in hardness in raw stored cauliflower was not detected by judges in cooked cauliflower. A small incidence of molds on stored cauliflower at 13 days has been observed, thus a washing treatment is recommended.

Keywords : Ascorbic acid; Antioxidant activity; Cooking; Modified atmosphere; Sensorial quality.

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