Abstract
Lamb's lettuce is a popular winter salad, often grown in private vegetable plots, small local farms or in intensive vegetable production. It is usually marketed as a ready-to-eat produce in supermarkets. The aim of the study was to evaluate the changes in biochemical composition and degradation of bioactive compounds during consumer-relevant time of home-grown and store-bought Valerianella locusta “Vit” salad. Primary metabolites, assimilatory pigments as well as secondary metabolites were monitored during 1 week of refrigerated storage. Home-grown lamb's lettuce exhibited highest levels of total sugars, total organic acids, vitamin C, and total phenolic content as well as enhanced levels of most individual phenolic compounds and chloroplast pigments. Locally produced samples of lamb's lettuce also contained high levels of analyzed bioactive components. All samples retained most bioactive components during the entire period of refrigerated storage. The results underline the instability of vitamin C during refrigerated storage of lamb's lettuce and pinpoint this parameter as being the most affected by storage.
Highlights
IntroductionBetcke or lamb’s lettuce is a common minimally processed ready-to-eat vegetable
The content of individual sugars, organic acids and vitamin C in V. locusta leaves during 1-week refrigerated storage were studied for the first time
A loss of primary and secondary metabolites was expected in all samples after harvest, but in those stored for a longer period of time
Summary
Betcke or lamb’s lettuce is a common minimally processed ready-to-eat vegetable. It can be used either as a leafy salad, as an ingredient in salad mixes or in more complex culinary dishes (1, 2). This appealingly termed vegetable was sown in every kitchen garden or in small local greenhouses and consumed during the colder period of the year. Increased market demand throughout the year has encouraged producers to grow lamb’s lettuce on a larger scale, either in greenhouse cultivation or on open fields, and sell their produce to supermarkets and restaurant supply chains
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