The health–promoting properties of sulforaphane (SFN) are well known, however its instability is still a hurdle for its incorporation into food matrices. SFN can be stabilized by microencapsulation, technique sparingly explored for isothiocyanates so far. This review summarizes the advances in microencapsulation of SFN and other isothiocyanates. Encapsulation efficiency and degradation rate of sulforaphane in different systems are compared and discussed. Ionic gelation and complex coacervation seem more adequate for SFN, both underexplored until now. Drying conditions after chemical encapsulation are determinant, most likely related to thermal degradation of SFN. The current information is insufficient to identify the most adequate encapsulation system and the optimal process conditions to stabilize SFN aiming at its incorporation into food matrices. Accordingly, encapsulation conditions should be investigated, which arises as a new research line. Stability studies are encouraged since this information will help in designing SFN microencapsulation strategies that extend the industrial application of this promising health-promoting compound.

Broccoli sprouts are a recognized source of health-promoting compounds, such as glucosinolates, glucoraphanin, and sulforaphane (SFN). Maximization of SFN content can be achieved by technological processing. We investigated the effect of blanching conditions to determine the optimal treatment that maximizes sulforaphane content in broccoli sprouts. Broccoli seeds (cv. Traditional) grown under controlled conditions were harvested after 11 days from germination and subjected to different blanching conditions based on a central composite design with temperature and time as experimental factors. Results were analyzed by ANOVA followed by a Tukey test. The optimum conditions were identified through response surface methodology. Blanching increased sulforaphane content compared with untreated sprouts, agreeing with a decrease in total glucosinolates and glucoraphanin content. Temperature significantly affected SFN content. Higher temperatures and shorter immersion times favor glucoraphanin hydrolysis, thus increasing SFN content. The optimum conditions were blanching at 61 °C for 4.8 min, resulting in 54.3 ± 0.20 µmol SFN/g dry weight, representing a 3.3-fold increase with respect to untreated sprouts. This is the highest SFN content reported for sprouts subjected to any treatment so far. The process described in this work may contribute to developing functional foods and nutraceuticals that provide sulforaphane as an active principle.