The Application of Essential Oil Vapors at the End of Vacuum Cooling of Fresh Culinary Herbs Promotes Aromatic Recovery

Abstract

Aroma is an important quality parameter of fresh culinary herbs that may be highly affected after postharvest treatments. The innovative technology of vapor essential oil (EO) application under vacuum conditions may recover aroma lost during the postharvest processing of plant products like aromatic herbs. Hence, this study assessed the aroma recovery effect of vapor EOs applied during vacuum cooling on curly parsley and dill. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profiles of these aromatic herbs were studied by static headspace solid-phase microextraction (SPME), and the VOCs sorption kinetics onto the SPME stir-bar coating were modeled by the Baranyi model. At the pilot plant scale, the total VOCs contents of parsley and dill (whose extractability was increased by 10–20% after a single vacuum process) were enhanced by 4.5- and 2-fold, respectively, when vapor EOs were applied. In particular, 1,3,8-p-menthatriene and carvone (parsley) increased by 18.7- and 7.3-fold, respectively, while dill ether (the characteristic VOC of dill) augmented by 2.4-fold after vapor EOs were applied under vacuum conditions. The aroma recovery of culinary herbs was successfully validated at an industrial level in an installation developed by our group to apply vapor EOs within a vacuum cooling system, reaching total VOC recoveries of 4.9- and 2.3-fold in parsley and dill, respectively.

Modeling Population Growth in R with the biogrowth Package

“…Although this approach was initially intended for describing microbial populations, its principles are applicable to a large number of scientific fields. For instance, some of the models included in biogrowth have been used in biotechnology (Gonzales, Kim, and Kim 2019;Martínez-Hernández, Taboada-Rodríguez, Garre, Marín-Iniesta, and López-Gómez 2021), ecology (Jiang et al 2018), medicine (Adam and Bellomo 2012), astrobiology (Spada and Melini 2020), economics (Tsai 2013), operations research (Cabecinhas et al 2018), or social sciences (Gupta, Kumar, Sangam, and Karisiddappa 2002). Therefore, we consider that the functions included in biogrowth can be applied to a large variety of fields with (in some cases) minor modifications, as illustrated in the case studies below.…”

Plant Bioactive Compounds in Foods and Food Packages

“…For example, the vacuum-cooling technology used as an efficient pre-refrigeration technique for leafy vegetables may also lead to the loss of PBCs, as has been found to occur for the volatiles found in aromatic herbs. Nevertheless, innovative technology was proposed consisting of the application of EO vapours at the end of the vacuum cooling of fresh culinary herbs, allowing the aromatic recovery of these plant volatiles [19]. Hence, the aroma recovery of culinary herbs was successfully validated at an industrial level with this innovative technology, reaching total volatile recoveries of 2-5-fold, for example, in parsley and dill [19].…”

“…Nevertheless, innovative technology was proposed consisting of the application of EO vapours at the end of the vacuum cooling of fresh culinary herbs, allowing the aromatic recovery of these plant volatiles [19]. Hence, the aroma recovery of culinary herbs was successfully validated at an industrial level with this innovative technology, reaching total volatile recoveries of 2-5-fold, for example, in parsley and dill [19]. (12) The extractability of PBCs is an important aspect of supplying these bioactive compounds of technological interest for their application in food and food packaging.…”