Shelf Life Extension and Quality Improvement of Cucumber Slices Impregnated in Infusions of Edible Herbs

Abstract

Development of functional food through their enrichment with herbal extracts is gaining much attention from the food industry. The present study evaluates the benefits, such as the oxidative stability and quality retention, of the enrichment of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) with natural phenolic compounds through immersion into a variety of herbal infusions. After a preliminary experiment with gallic acid solutions, the beneficial effect of hypotonic solutions was observed and the optimal process conditions were defined. The second step of the study involved the immersion of cucumber in the herbal infusions for 2.5 h at 70 °C. The total phenolic content (TPC), antiradical and antioxidant activity of osmo-treated slices were determined to evaluate the extent of bioactive compounds’ impregnation. During the immersion, TPC, antioxidant and antiradical activity significantly increased irrespective of the type of the herbal infusion. The TPC varied greatly, ranging from 1.41 to 781.14 mg GAE/kg of cucumber. The highest total phenolics were found in cucumber treated with Origanum vulgare infusion, followed by Jasminum officinale and Mentha spicata infusions. The aforementioned osmo-treated slices were also highly appreciated by the sensory panel; therefore, for those best performing herbal infusions, the third phase of this work involved the study of quality degradation under subsequent storage of the osmo-treated slices vs. the untreated ones. The results regarding color, texture, and visual assessment demonstrated the superior quality retention of the osmo-treated samples that exhibited a shelf life extension ranging from two- to almost four-fold compared to the untreated tissue.