Abstract:The search for food products that promote health has grown over the years.

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Polyphenols, as well as volatile compounds responsible for aromatic features, play a critical role in the quality of vegetables and medicinal, and aromatic plants (MAPs). The research conducted in recent years has shown that these plants contain biologically active compounds, mainly polyphenols, that relate to the prevention of inflammatory processes, neurodegenerative diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular disorders as well as to antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antiparasitic properties. Throughout the years, many researchers have deeply studied polyphenols and volatile compounds in medicinal and aromatic plants, particularly those associated with consumer’s choices or with their beneficial properties. In this context, the purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the presence of volatile and nonvolatile compounds in some of the most economically relevant and consumed vegetables and medicinal and aromatic plants, with an emphasis on bioactive polyphenols, polyphenols as prebiotics, and, also, the most important factors that affect the contents and profiles of the volatile and nonvolatile compounds responsible for the aromatic features of vegetables and MAPs. Additionally, the new challenges for science in terms of improving polyphenol composition and intensifying volatile compounds responsible for the positive characteristics of vegetables and medicinal and aromatic plants are reported.

Emulsions and foams form the basis of an extensive variety of materials used in the beverage industry. One of the characteristics of beverage emulsions is that they are rather diluted, contain little amounts of a dispersed oil phase in the finished product, and must remain physically stable for long periods of time. Nowadays, the consumers ask for more than a drink. Thus, in the market, we can find a vast variety of beverages, where emulsion science seems to be the main factor for controlling flavor, color, the presence of constituents of technological or nutritional value, nutraceutical/bioactive components and, also, turbidity. This work intends to make an overview of the recent advances in beverage-emulsions technology. Some examples are given within the very large world of the beverage industry, from cream liqueurs, soft drinks, and functional beverages, to bottled water, fruit drinks, sparkling wine, and beer.

Aromas and flavours play an important role in horticultural crops' quality, namely in fruits. Plant breeders have made considerable advances producing cultivars with higher yields, resistant to pests and diseases, or with high nutritional quality, without paying enough attention to flavour quality. Indeed, consumers have the perception that fruit aromas and flavours have declined in the last years. Attention is given nowadays not only to flavoured compounds but also to compounds with antioxidant activity such as phenolic compounds. Fruit flavour is a combination of aroma and taste sensations. Conjugation of sugars, acids, phenolics, and hundreds of volatile compounds contribute to the fruit flavour. However, flavour and aroma depend on the variety, edaphoclimatic conditions, agronomical practices and postharvest handling. This chapter reviews the aromas and flavours of the most important fruits and discusses the most recent advances in the genomics, biochemistry and biotechnology of aromas and flavours.

Traditionally, tea, a beverage made from the processed leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, and herbal infusions have been primarily consumed for their pleasant taste. Nowadays, they are also consumed because they contain nutraceutical compounds, such as polyphenols. Grapes and grape/wine sub-products such as non-fermented/semi-fermented or fermented grapes, skins, and seeds are a rich source of health-promoting compounds, presenting a great potential for the development of new beverages. Therefore, these grape/wine sub-products are used in the beverage sector for the preparation of infusions, tisanes, and decoctions. Besides polyphenols, fermented grapes, skins, and seeds, usually discarded as waste, are enriched with other health-promoting/nutraceutical compounds, such as melatonin, glutathione, and trehalose, among others, which are produced by yeasts during alcoholic fermentation. In this review, we summarize the benefits of drinking herbal infusions and discuss the potential application of some grapevine fermentation waste products in the production of healthy beverages that we can call grape infusions.

Flavours and fragrances are especially important for the beverage and food industries. Biosynthesis or extraction are the two main ways to obtain these important compounds that have many different chemical structures. Consequently, the search for new compounds is challenging for academic and industrial investigation. This overview aims to present the current state of art of beverage fragrance biotechnology, including recent advances in sensory and sensor methodologies and statistical techniques for data analysis. An overview of all the recent findings in beverage and food fragrance biotechnology, including those obtained from natural sources by extraction processes (natural plants as an important source of flavours) or using enzymatic precursor (hydrolytic enzymes), and those obtained by de novo synthesis (microorganisms’ respiration/fermentation of simple substrates such as glucose and sucrose), are reviewed. Recent advances have been made in what concerns “beverage fragrances construction” as also in their application products. Moreover, novel sensory and sensor methodologies, primarily used for fragrances quality evaluation, have been developed, as have statistical techniques for sensory and sensors data treatments, allowing a rapid and objective analysis.