Abstract
The intention of this study was to investigate the effect of steaming processing on phenolic profiles and antioxidant activities in chestnuts. Steaming processing at different times and temperatures depicted diverse impacts on free and bound fractions. Though, bound phenolics were stable but long time steaming at higher temperatures tended to improve the levels of phenolics, flavonoids as well as antioxidant activities in chestnut kernels, by up to 60.11% of the original value. Seven phenolic compounds including ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, vanillic acid, syringate, p-coumaric acid and quercetin were found to change during thermal processes. Significant relationships (p < 0.05) were identified between total phenolics and total antioxidant activities. However, the consistency of chlorogenic acid (p < 0.01) only with cellular antioxidant activity indicated poor bio-accessibility of the phytochemicals in chestnuts. However, this situation could be partly improved by steaming. Steaming could improve the cellular accessibility of free phytochemicals, particularly, increasing the bio-accessibility by 41.96%. This study provided valuable information on dynamic changes of phenolic profiles and antioxidant activity of chestnuts under a steaming process, which could offer possible guidance for the chestnut processing industry in the future.
Highlights
Chestnut (Castanea) is a member of the Fagaceae family and mainly distributed in Europe, East Asia as well as North America
Our study revealed steaming for a longer steaming time at a high temperature led to higher phenolic contents and oxygen radical capacity (ORAC) values
Our findings revealed that steaming at 100–115 ◦ C for 20 min was the critical point to increase flavonoid levels in chestnut fruits where the release or formation of flavonoids couldn’t compensate the loss of flavonoids
Summary
Chestnut (Castanea) is a member of the Fagaceae family and mainly distributed in Europe, East Asia as well as North America. Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) is a native species in mainland China with a cultivation history of over 3000 years [1]. Chestnut has long been used as a kind of cosmetic supplement in Korea [2]. Chestnuts are a healthy food resource with high nutritional values, containing high levels of carbohydrates and proteins but zero cholesterol and gluten [3]. These features make chestnuts distinguished in the nut family and heartily accepted by people around the world [4].
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