Wild Fruits of Azerbaijan as Raw Materials for Bioadditives

Abstract

In Azerbaijan, the structure of nutrition is characterized by high caloric content, insufficient or unbalanced consumption of macro- and micronutrients, in particular, a deficiency of antioxidant nutrients is observed. One of the options for solving the problem of food quality is the development of a technology for processing domestic fruit raw materials into functional food bioadditives. The article provides an analysis of data on the biochemical composition (vitamin profile and polyphenolic substances) of some types of wild fruits, namely: eastern hawthorn (Crataegus orientalis L.) of the Rosaceae L. family; sea buckthorn (Hippophae L.) of the Elaeagnaceae family; wild rose (Rosa aciculus L.) of the Rosaceae family. The content of most vitamins that were determined in all water extracts is 1.1–1.2% less than the data specified in the handbook. However, the content of vitamin C is 4.5 times higher in hawthorn extract, and vitamin E is 4.88 times higher in wild rose extract. The choice of raw materials is determined by the stability and quantity of the harvest, the generally available price, as well as the availability of literary and own data of the authors that this source of raw materials contains in its composition a natural complex of physiologically active functional ingredients. For the quantitative extraction of the vitamin complex and polyphenolic substances of the wild fruits of sea buckthorn, hawthorn, and rosehip, the modes of hydroacoustic extraction using a rotary-pulsation apparatus were selected. The DPPH method was used to investigate the antioxidant activity of the obtained aqueous extracts, which varied in the series of sea buckthorn-hawthorn-wild rose. The study showed that wild fruits of Azerbaijan can be a source of biologically active substances for food production. The results of this research were implemented in production at the leading enterprise of Azerbaijan. The results confirm the potential of these types of fruits as wild plant raw materials rich in biologically active substances.