Preservation of Chocolate Muffins with Lemon Balm, Oregano, and Rosemary Extracts.

Mariana C Pedrosa,Marina Soković,Sandrina Heleno,Aline Bruna Da Silva,Jonata M Ueda,Maria Inês Dias,Bruno Melgar,Márcio Carocho,José Pinela,Ricardo C Calhelha,Isabel C F R Ferreira,Lillian Barros,Marija Ivanov

doi:10.3390/foods10010165

Abstract

Muffins are snacks made from flour and chocolate and preserved with synthetic additives. Following consumer trends, the search for natural food additives has gained traction. Plants such as rosemary, lemon balm, and oregano were analyzed following an optimization of ultrasound assisted extraction, screened for their antioxidant and antimicrobial activity and incorporated in chocolate muffins, comparing them to synthetic preservatives over the course of 8 days. The nutritional profile, organic and fatty acids, soluble sugars, texture profile, external color and digital imaging of the muffin pores were analyzed. Slight changes were sought for the muffins incorporated with the natural extracts. By means of linear discriminant analysis, rosemary extract was considered the most promising extract to preserve the muffins due to its similarity to potassium sorbate, showing no changes in the muffins it was incorporated in, although it showed a lower amount of phenolic compounds when compared to lemon balm.

Highlights

One of the main sources of nutrients for human beings are cereal grains such as wheat, rice, corn starch, sorghum and barley
This work evaluated the preserving effect of natural extracts in chocolate muffins, comparing them to artificial counterparts
By applying an optimization extraction protocol, there was a reduction in the number of necessary extractions steps to find the Considering storage time (ST), from the 45 analyses, the ones with discriminant ability for ST were gomosity, ash, L* of the top of the muffin, circularity, L* of the side of the muffin, C20:1 and springiness

Summary

Introduction

One of the main sources of nutrients for human beings are cereal grains such as wheat, rice, corn starch, sorghum and barley. A muffin is a wheat product, sweet, highly caloric and very popular, which is baked and usually consumed throughout the day. In recent years, it has gained the status of a “snack” and it is consumed around the world [2,3,4,5,6]. One of the most important aspects in the development of food is its preservation, which relies, nowadays, on synthetic or artificial food additives. The tendency to use natural additives is due to the fact that consumers perceive them as not having the harmful effects on health that some synthetic ones may have, including toxicity, allergic reactions, or the risk of a daily over-exposure [9]. The objective of this work was to optimize ultrasonic extractions of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) and oregano (Origanum vulgare L.), characterize the extracts in terms of their chemical components and bioactivities, and use them as preservative ingredients in chocolate muffins, comparing them to synthetic preservatives (sodium benzoate (E211) and potassium metabisulfite (E224)) over 8 days

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Conclusion