Abstract
Developing shoots, i.e., sprouts, and older needles of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) have traditionally been used for medicinal purposes due to the high content of vitamins and antioxidants. Currently, sprouts are available as, for example, superfood and supplements. However, end-product quality and nutritive value may decline in the value-chain from raw material sourcing to processing and storage. We studied (1) impacts of different drying and extraction methods on nutritional composition and antioxidative properties of sprouts and needles, (2) differences between sprouts and needles in nutritional composition and microbiological quality, and (3) production scale quality of the sprouts. Additionally, (4) sprout powder was applied in products (ice-cream and sorbet) and consumer acceptance was evaluated. According to our results, older needles have higher content of dry matter, energy, and calcium, but lower microbial quality than sprouts. Sprouts showed a higher concentration of vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus than older needles. Freeze-drying was the best drying method preserving the quality of both sprouts and needles, e.g., vitamin C content. The antioxidative activity of the sprout extracts were lower than that of needles. Ethanol-water extraction resulted in a higher content of active compounds in the extract than water extraction. Sensory evaluation of food products revealed that on average, 76% of consumers considered sprout-containing products very good or good, and a creamy product was preferred over a water-based sorbet.
Highlights
Sprouts, i.e., new developing shoots of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), have been eaten as such, used as herbal tea or in folk medicine in different ways, e.g., to prevent respiratory diseases and stomach ailments in Finland and central Europe [1,2,3]
C content of freeze-dried sproutsaccumulation showed at the higher end acid the range of vitamin et al [5] followed the seasonal accumulation ascorbic and in theofyoung shoots in different tree Radulescu species, thehighest young vitamin shoots inCdifferent species, and found that the highest vitamin contents were mainly found from the samples
The reported that crude fiber levels are significantly lower than dietary fiber contents analyzed in this study, which may be due to differences in spruce species, age of sprouts and needles, and differences
Summary
Sprouts, i.e., new developing shoots of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), have been eaten as such, used as herbal tea or in folk medicine in different ways, e.g., to prevent respiratory diseases and stomach ailments in Finland and central Europe [1,2,3]. The Finnish forests provide a great potential to increase the harvest of pure, high-quality sprout raw material—without impurities or pollutants—for the development of added-value products. As the harvest requires manual labor and a permission from the landowner is needed (i.e., there is no every man’s right to collect sprouts), there is no well-established supply chain of sprouts in Finland [17] This causes a challenge for the companies and industry willing to utilize larger amounts of sprouts as raw material [15,17]. As the annual sprout harvest is collected within a very short period of time, the raw material must be properly conserved and stored to maintain chemical and microbial quality, as well as nutritive value, color, taste and structure during storage, further processing, and end-products’ desired shelf-lives. How are the sprout-containing gourmet food products (ice-cream and sorbet) accepted by the consumers?
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