Prestorage Heat Treatment To Maintain Nutritive and Functional Properties during Postharvest Cold Storage of Pomegranate

Abstract

Heat treatments have been used to extend storability of several fruits, although no information is available about their effects on nutritive and functional properties in pomegranates, which was the objective of this research. Thus, pomegranate fruits were heat treated (dips at 45 degrees C for 4 min) and stored at 2 degrees C for 90 days. Every 15 days, samples were taken and further stored 2 days at 20 degrees C for shelf life study. Arils from heat-treated pomegranates exhibited higher total antioxidant activity than controls, which was correlated primarily to the high levels of total phenolics and to lesser extent to ascorbic acid and anthocyanin contents. Additionally, the levels of sugars (glucose and fructose) and organic acids (malic, citric, and oxalic acids) remained also at higher concentrations in arils from treated fruits. With this simple and non-contaminant technology, the functional and nutritive properties, after long periods of storage, could then be even greater than in recently harvested fruits, thus providing a high content in health-beneficial compounds to consumers after the intake of these fruits.

Effects of ultraviolet irradiation, pulsed electric field, hot water dip and ethanol vapours treatment on keeping and sensory quality of mung bean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) sprouts

“…They reported that titratable acidity increased after treatment at 40°C for 3 min but during storage acidity decreased slightly. Mirdehghan et al (2006) observed higher levels of both malic acid and citric acids in heat treated pomegranate. In ethanol treated sprouts higher acidity might be due to inhibition of metabolic activities.…”

Vapour treatments with methyl salicylate or methyl jasmonate alleviated chilling injury and enhanced antioxidant potential during postharvest storage of pomegranates

“…'Mollar de Elche' pomegranate cultivar is rich in these compounds, since higher concentrations of ascorbic acid and total phenolics have been found compared to 'Taifi', 'Wonderful' and 'Ganesh' cultivars (Al-Maiman & Ahmad, 2002;Gil, Tomás-Barberán, Hess-Pierce, Holcroft, & Kader, 2000;Mirdehghan et al, 2006). Early reports on 'Mollar de Elche' pomegranate revealed that during postharvest storage an increase of total phenolics and total anthocyainins occurred (Mirdehghan et al, 2006;Mirdehghan et al, 2007c) phytochemicals alongside storage period and in turn to higher H-TAA as compared with arils from control fruits. For comparative purposes, literature on the effect of MeJa on the bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity in fruits is limited, and only a few examples are found in small berries, blackberries, bayberries, strawberries and raspberries while no scientific information is available on the relationship between MeSa and phytochemicals.…”

A new drink rich in healthy bioactives combining lemon and pomegranate juices

“…is a very rich source of anthocyanins (cyanidin 3,5-di and 3-O-glucoside, delphinidin 3,5-di and 3-O-glucoside, pelargonidin 3,5-di and 3-O-glucoside), ellagic acid, punicalagin isomers, different flavanols (catechins as catechins and epicatechin, and gallocatechins as gallocatechin and epigallocatechin) (Alighourchi, Barzegar, & Abbasi, 2007;García-Alonso, Pascual-Teresa, Santos-Buelga, & Rivas-Gonzalo, 2004;Gil, Tomás-Barberán, Hess-Pierce, Holcroft, & Kader, 2000;Kulkarni, Mahal, Kapoor, & Aradhya, 2007;Pascual-Teresa, SantosBuelga, & Rivas-Gonzalo, 2000;Pérez-Vicente, Serrano, Abellán, & García-Viguera, 2004). In addition, malic and citric acid have been described as the most abundant acids, whilst oxalic, succinic and fumaric are present in lower amounts (Mirdehghan et al, 2006). Moreover, pharmacological activities, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, as well as preventive effects on cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases are associated with these compounds (Faria, Monteiro, Mateus, Azevedo, & Calhau, 2007;Sartippour et al, 2008).…”