Ana Sofia Rodrigues

Increasing the Added-Value of Onions as a Source of Antioxidant Flavonoids: A Critical Review

Flavonoids are a large and diverse group of polyphenolic compounds with antioxidant effects. While the flavonoid content and composition profile clearly reflect the genetic background of the cultivar, environmental conditions and agronomic practices are also determinants for the composition of crops at harvest. Considerable research has been directed toward understanding the nature of polyphenols in different products and the factors influencing their accumulation. This review examines the flavonoids as a class of compounds, the role these compounds play in the plant, their contributions to product quality, and recent research on the impacts of environmental factors and cultural practices on flavonoid content in onions, highlighting how this knowledge may be used to modulate their polyphenolic composition at harvest or during post-harvest handling.

Effect of high pressure treatments on the physicochemical properties of a sulphur dioxide-free red wine.

The application of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) in winemaking for substitution of the use of sulphur dioxide is still at a very early stage of development, since knowledge about the effect on physicochemical and sensorial characteristics of the wine during storage is very scarce. In this work, the evolution of colour, antioxidant activity and total phenolic compounds of SO2-free red wines treated by HHP and aged in bottles was followed for 12 months. The pressurised wines were compared with wine samples prepared with addition of 40 ppm of SO2 and without any of these two treatments. After 12 months, the pressurised wines presented higher values of CIELab parameters (a(*), b(*), and L(*)) and a lower monomeric anthocyanin content (45-61%) when compared to the unpressurised ones. The pressurised wines showed also a better global sensorial assessment, with the pressure treatments imparting aged-like characteristics to the wines. The wine deposits of pressurised wines had higher total phenolic content, namely proanthocyanidins (3- to 10-fold). The results demonstrate that HHP can influence long term red wine physicochemical and sensorial characteristics, hypothesised to be due to an increase of condensation reactions of phenolic compounds, forming compounds with higher degree of polymerisation that became insoluble in wine along storage.

High pressure treatments accelerate changes in volatile composition of sulphur dioxide-free wine during bottle storage

The impact of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatments on volatile composition of sulphur dioxide-free wines during bottle storage was studied. For this purpose, white and red wines were produced without sulphur dioxide (SO2) and, at the end of the alcoholic fermentation, the wines were pressurised at 500 MPa and 425 MPa for 5 min. Wine with 40 ppm of SO2 and a wine without a preservation treatment were used as controls. More than 160 volatile compounds, distributed over 12 chemical groups, were identified in the wines by an advanced gas chromatography technique. The pressurised wines contained a higher content of furans, aldehydes, ketones, and acetals, compared with unpressurised wines after 9 months of storage. The changes in the volatile composition indicate that HHP treatments accelerated the Maillard reaction, and alcohol and fatty acid oxidation, leading to wines with a volatile composition similar to those of faster aged and/or thermally treated wines.