The relation between nutrition and health has been unequivocally established. Wrong eating habits and losses of nutritional factors during technological processing, storage, and culinary treatments can lead to the diet deficient in some nutritional factors. Barley green matter was analysed for the contents of vitamin C, total polyphenols, phenolic compounds, proteins, amino acids, and saccharides; the activity of catalase was also determined. The contents of vitamin C, total polyphenols, and ferulic acid decreased with the age of barley plants. The influence of the variety has not been proved unequivocally. The contents of vitamin C between 0.107-6.357 g/kg DM, of total polyphenols between 17.167-35.559 g/kg DM, and of ferulic acid between 0-5.916 g/kg DM were found. Catalase activity amounted to 4.5-29.7 TSU. The monosaccharide profile showed high contents of glucose (15.40-88.40 g/kg DM) and fructose (37.60-81.40 g/kg DM) which decreased with the plant growth. The contents of saccharose and galactose were low, ranging between 0-7.70 g/kg DM and 3.70-5.30 g/kg DM, respectively. The relations between their contents and the growth phase were insignificant. The total amino acid content decreased with the plant age. High contents of aspartic (15.232-28.682 g/kg DM) and glutamic acids (16.694-35.526 g/kg DM), as well as minimal contents of sulphur amino acids, especially methionin (2.586-5.03 g per kg DM), could be noted. The highest catalase activity was found in the early growth phase (18.5-35.1 TSU), being higher in all samples grown at the location Kroměříž. The yield of juice pressed out from frozen green matter amounted to 68%. The pressed out juice was preserved by fluid drying, freeze drying, and freezing. In respect to folates and total polyphenols contents and the antioxidant activity, freezing appears the most suitable procedure for preserving.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.), a major cereal crop, is the staple food source for half of the world population. Rice is an excellent source of energy, in the form of starch, and it gives the benefit of providing proteins with a higher nutritional quality than those of other cereal grains (M���������� et al. 1998). At present, many possible applications of microwave (MW) energy in the food industry are known. MW drying was demonstrated to be an alternative means for the rice drying (W�������� & K����� 1986). Major components and the enzymic system of rice can be influenced during MW treatment. Since starch comprises approximately 90% of the dry matter of the rice endosperm, the research on rice cooking behaviour has focused on this fraction. W�������� and K����� (1986) used two long-grain cultivars and one medium-grain cultivar of rice for drying under vacuum by means of MW energy to determine the effects on the physicochemical properties and eating characteristics. Amylographic characteristics were used to obtain more information on the influence of the starch fraction of rice on its cooking behaviour. No significant differences were found in both maximum viscosity and setback viscosity between the air-dried controls and MW dried rice. M������ and T������ (1993) reported the effect of MW treatment on the contents of total and enzyme resistant starch in white and brown rice (three Australian cultivars -Calrose, Doongara and Waxy). The starch content was maintained or increased by cooking in a MW oven except with cv. Waxy. The increase was consistent with starch gelatinisation and therefore, with greater susceptibility to enzymic attack. Cooked rice had a higher content of resistant starch than the corresponding raw product, possibly because of the production of retrograded starch. It can be concluded that although the content of the resistant starch in rice increased by the techniques known to increase the resistant starch in other foods (heating, cooking, cooling and freezing), the impact was not as great. Z���� et al. (1996) treated two japanase cultivars of rice (700 W, 3 min, 500 g batches) with MW and determined physicochemical properties, cooking quality and enzyme activities. It was found that both cultivars of rice had debranching enzymes, and that α-amylase activities were significantly lower than those of the untreated controls. Cooking qualities, such as water absorption capacity, pH, and iodine blue value of cooking water, β-amy- The properties of rice after microwave irradiation were evaluated by means of amylograph and enzymic determination of the total and the damaged starch. The content of the total starch was not affected by the immediate energy output used for irradiation but that of the damaged starch increased with microwave energy absorbed and the temperature of treatment, mainly at the moisture of 30% and the temperature of 100°C. The results of damaged starch determination are in accordance with the amylographic readings of changes at maximum viscosity. Amylographic characteristics suggest mini...

Bohačenko I., Pinkrová J., Komárková J., Paprštein F., 2010. Selected processing characteristics of new plum cultivars grown in the Czech Republic. Hort. Sci. (Prague), 37: 39-45.Fermentable sugars (the total of glucose, fructose, and sucrose), sorbitol content, dry matter content, and titrable acidity were monitored in fruits of 16 new plum cultivars from the harvests in [2004][2005][2006][2007]. General linear model of two-factor grouping with testing of significance of simple contrasts with LSD method was used for statistical evaluation of plum cultivar chemical characteristics. Based on these results the tested cultivars were further divided into groups as regards their future processing into prunes, damson cheese or distillates. The traditional cultivar Italian Prune, grown in parallel, was used as the reference standard. Cultivars Gabrovská, Chrudimer, Elena, Hamanova, and President showed the best results and can be recommended for the production of distillates as well as prunes and damson cheese. Katinka, Anna Späth, and Veeblue are preferable for the production of distillates. Valjevka and Čačanska lepotica are suitable for processing into prunes and damson cheese. The substandard values of the parameters of concern were determined in Čačanska najbolja, Hanita, and Voyageur. Cultivars Bluefree, Stanley, and Valor were then valuated as the worst ones.

Chocolate samples (22 in total, including 11 samples of milk chocolate) were bought from retail store in Prague and tested for their CBEs contents in relation to the declaration of CBE addition on the product labels. The modified method of Padley and Timms was employed for determining selected triglycerides (C50, C52 and C54). The presence of CBEs in chocolate was evaluated using the following relationship: %C50 < 44.095 -(0.737 × %C54). The content of CBE in chocolate was determined using the method of Young, modified by the replacement of the original graphical procedure with the numerical processing of the results. 19 samples i.e. 90% of the total, satisfied the requirements of Directive 2000/36/EC. In view that no official methods for CBE detection and quantification in chocolate have been published up to now and older methods were used in this work, the results published here should be considered as indicative and satisfying the requirements for screening only.