Spinach (Basella alba) is a popular green leafy vegetable its seeds contain non-exudate gum which may have gelling and stabilizing properties important in food industry applications. Presently, most of the commercially available food grade gums are imported, thus it is a necessity to look for locally available and inexpensive alternatives. Basella alba seed gum was scrutinized in the present study to get a better insight regarding this important polysaccharide. Mucilage of the sun-dried seeds were extracted with hot water. Extractable content of mucilage from seeds was 5.63% ± 0.63 in dry basis. Composition and functional properties (antioxidant capacity, water solubility, water holding capacity (WHC) and oil holding capacity (OHC) of the spinach seed gum (SSG) were analyzed and compared. FTIR spectroscopy analysis was conducted to identify organic functional groups present in extracted gum. The potential application of SSG as a stabilizer was evaluated by incorporating it into a yoghurt and the changes in pH and syneresis were observed. Results revealed that the SSG showed a radical scavenging ability that proves antioxidant capacity of isolated gum. Solubility of spinach seed mucilage was about 21.07±0.55% at room temperature and there was a positive relationship with the increment of temperature. Furthermore, isolated SSG showed 3.09 g water/g and 76.26 g oil/100 g WHC and OHC respectively. Incorporation of SSG into yoghurt have shown a significant effect at 0.5% levels. In conclusion, SSG has shown potentially applicable hydrocolloid for food industry.

Highlights• Flowers of Allium cepa, widely used in salads and curries, are rich sources of phenolics • Phenolics from these flowers could be incorporated into nutraceuticals as well as functional foods to deliver potential health benefits • The optimum extraction conditions for ethanol-based phenolic extraction from Allium cepa flowers were 31.5°C, 48.46% ethanol, 1:36 solid:liquid ratio with an extraction time of 57 minutes • These optimum conditions can be used to extract phenolics in a cost-effective manner for industrial purposes Abstract: Allium cepa (onion) flowers have been documented as a rich source of phenolic compounds with an ability to combat oxidative stress. Thus, effective extraction of phenolic compounds from these flowers is important in utilize them in food-based applications. The present study aims to make use of central composite design to investigate the effects of four extraction variables (solid:liquid ratio, ethanol concentration, temperature and time) on three different response variables viz., total phenolic content, total anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity. The results showed that the polynomial models for all responses were significant (p<0.05) and did not show lack of fit and presented determination of coefficients above 95%, indicating the predictive capacity of the models. The optimum process parameters generated were temperature 31.5°C, 48.46% ethanol, 1:36 solid:liquid ratio and extraction time of 57 minutes. The experimental values obtained for the response under the recommended optimum conditions confirmed the validity of the proposed second-order polynomial model.

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