Abstract
Dried oregano (Origanum syriacum L.) is a common product in the Mediterranean diet and it has wide culinary applications. The quality and functional ingredients profile of oregano is highly affected by drying technology. This study was aimed to discriminate different quality traits of air, solar, and freeze-dried oregano by employing electronic nose (e-nose), chromameter, and sensory analysis. E-nose signals were analysed by using multivariate data analysis (MVDA). Our findings showed that the e-nose signal exhibited different clusters for all groups by using principal component analysis (PCA). Moreover, there were clear differences in the colour index (L*a*b*) between groups. Freeze-dried oregano exhibited significantly lower L*-values than air and solar-dried oregano. Sensory analysis showed that there were clear differences between solar and freeze-dried oregano. In this context, f-dried thyme had significantly lower values of colour acceptance (4.80 vs. 7.57, p<0.05), degree of freshness (5.57 vs. 7.14, p<0.05), taste acceptance (5.46 vs. 6.75, p<0.05), and overall acceptance (5.75 vs. 7.19, p<0.05) than solar-dried thyme, respectively. In conclusion, e-nose and chromameter were effective tools to discriminate between different types of dried oregano
Highlights
Origanum syriacum is a well-known crop in Mediterranean regions
Za’atar is one of the most common products in Mediterranean regions that is made from Origanum syriacum
E-noses were successfully used for distinguishing between different thyme cultivars (Vouillamoz et al, 2009) and for evaluating the effect of thyme oil on bacterial activity on textile (Asadi Fard et al, 2018)
Summary
Origanum syriacum is a well-known crop in Mediterranean regions. There are several common names for this herb such as “za’atar”, Lebanese oregano, Syrian oregano, and Bible hyssop (The Herb Society of America, 2005). Origanum syriacum is classified as a perennial herb with 60-90 cm height, woody creeping roots, and branched woody hairy stems (Farhat et al, 2012). Za’atar is one of the most common products in Mediterranean regions that is made from Origanum syriacum. Za’atar is a mix made from dried milled O. syriacum leaves, seeds, sesame, sumac berries (Rhus coriaria) and salt (Daouk et al, 1995; The Herb Society of America, 2005). Za’atar has many culinary uses such as a mixture with olive oil consumed at breakfast (Daouk et al, 1995; Mudalal et al, 2020), spread on a pizza-like pastry called “Man’ousheh” in Arabic (United Nations, 2010), and as seasoning (Daouk et al, 1995)
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