Study of Edible Plants: Effects of Boiling on Nutritional, Antioxidant, and Physicochemical Properties

Abstract

The consumption of vegetables in Mexico includes a wide variety of plants that grow naturally as weeds in the fields. The intake of these vegetables is very important in the Mexican diet because these plants supply an important input of nutrients and compounds such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Thus, the plants may be universally promoted as healthy. However, there is little information about these vegetables of popular consumption, especially in terms of the nutritional changes caused by boiling. To determine the influence of boiling on five plants of popular consumption in Mexico, the nutritional composition (proximal analysis, dietary fiber, and oxalates), antioxidant compounds (ascorbic acid, phenolics), antioxidant activity (measured by ABTS and DPPH assays), and physicochemical characteristics (water retention capacity, viscosity, color, and SEM) were evaluated. The boiling affected the nutritional composition of plants, mainly soluble compounds as carbohydrates (sugars and soluble fiber), ash, ascorbic acid, and phenolic compounds and caused changes in food hydration and color. Therefore, it is recommended that these plants be consumed raw or with short boiling times and included the cooking water in other preparations to take advantage of the nutrients released in the food matrix. In the future, to complete studies, 3 to 5 min of cooking should be considered to minimize undesirable modifications in terms of the vegetables’ composition.

Effect of boiling on nutritional, antioxidant and physicochemical properties of edible plants (Malva parviflora and Myrtillocactus geometrizans)

“…The increase in carbohydrate content could be attributed to hydroxylation of complex glucidic chains freeing sugar molecules, while that the high proteins content could be explained by the nature and form of proteins of the plants (Traoré et al, 2017). A significant loss of soluble compounds was observed in both studied samples, as in ethereal extract (around 23 -55 %) and ashes (50 %), similar to other studies (Ahmed and Ali, 2013;Arias-Rico, 2020).…”

“…Finding only research on changes of the cooked edible plants as Chenopodium spp., Suaeda torreyana, Portulaca oleracea and Porophyllum spp. (Arias-Rico et al, 2020), and reports forms of consumption of flowers such as squash blossoms, flowers as coral trees and yucca, mexican marigolds, dahlias, cactus flowers, among others (Mulík and Ozuna, 2020). Few studies cover the importance of the changes in the thermic treatment in edible plants as mallow leaves, while in garambullo flowers the research have been on phytochemicals and antioxidants properties (Abdalla and el-Aal, 2016;Singh, 2017;Pinedo-Espinoza et al, 2020).…”

Loss or Gain of Lipophilic Bioactive Compounds in Vegetables after Domestic Cooking? Effect of Steaming and Boiling

“…Moreover, the changes in the natural barriers in which some nutrients can be involved may result in the release from the matrix of bioactive components or, for those more polar, their loss in cooking water [ 11 ]. Different papers have studied the effect of different domestic cooking procedures on several phytochemicals (polyphenols, carotenoids, tocopherols, glucosinolates) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) on vegetables, with somehow contradictory results [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”

Vegetable Soups and Creams: Raw Materials, Processing, Health Benefits, and Innovation Trends

“…Texture and color are also greatly affected [ 135 ]. In general, thermal processing cause losses on nutritional and bioactive molecules, the loss of soluble compounds (sugars and soluble fiber) and affects color, hydration properties, and cell integrity [ 133 , 136 ]. As it was said before, some processes have a beneficial effect, like the release of soluble compounds, as polyphenols, that become available due to processing can disruption of the food matrix, increasing the bioaccessibility of many bioactive compounds [ 128 , 134 ].…”