Shabir Ahmad Mir

Microgreens: Production, shelf life, and bioactive components

ABSTRACT Microgreens are emerging specialty food products which are gaining popularity and increased attention nowadays. They are young and tender cotyledonary leafy greens that are found in a pleasing palette of colors, textures, and flavors. Microgreens are a new class of edible vegetables harvested when first leaves have fully expanded and before true leaves have emerged. They are gaining popularity as a new culinary ingredient. They are used to enhance salads or as edible garnishes to embellish a wide variety of other dishes. Common microgreens are grown mainly from mustard, cabbage, radish, buckwheat, lettuce, spinach, etc. The consumption of microgreens has nowadays increased due to higher concentrations of bioactive components such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants than mature greens, which are important for human health. However, they typically have a short shelf life due to rapid product deterioration. This review aimed to evaluate the postharvest quality, potential bioactive compounds, and shelf life of microgreens for proper management of this specialty produce.

Supercritical Impregnation of Active Components into Polymers for Food Packaging Applications

Supercritical impregnation is one of the novel technologies exploited for incorporation of active components into packaging material. This technique uses carbon dioxide as solvent to incorporate the active components in the polymeric matrix. The major advantages of using supercritical carbon dioxide as a solvent rely on the possibility to operate under mild temperature and so to process with thermo-sensitive active components. This technique permits the impregnation of diverse natural and synthetic polymers which is the main advantage of this process. This review covers recent developments in the application of supercritical impregnation technology for incorporation of active components in polymers for food packaging applications.

Postharvest Biology and Technology of Peach

Peach is a climacteric fruit and undergoes rapid ripening after harvest. The fast ripening of the fruit is responsible for its short shelf life and represents a serious constraint for its efficient handling and transportation. Quick softening of the fruit after harvest and subsequent mold growth leads to huge losses in the marketing chain of the fruit. This chapter mainly sums up recent studies about the maturation parameters, ripening, physiological disorders, microbiological disorders, and postharvest techniques (cold storage, controlled atmosphere storage, and modified atmosphere packaging) of peach fruit. Various treatments, including physical (heat treatment, intermittent warming, irradiation, and edible coatings) and chemical methods (1-methylcyclopropene, salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate, calcium chloride, oxalic acid, melatonin, and nitric oxide), have been applied to peach fruit to enhance its shelf life.

Postharvest Biology and Technology of Loquat

Loquat, a non-climacteric fruit, is well known for its taste, juiciness and high nutrition value. Loquat is mainly consumed as fresh fruit and the important quality attributes are skin color, flesh firmness, soluble solids content, acidity and soluble solids content/acidity ratio. It has a short shelf life at ambient temperatures and is susceptible to various physical, mechanical and nutritional losses. A number of technologies have been evaluated for extending the shelf-life of loquat fruit and include cold storage, controlled atmosphere storage, modified atmosphere packaging, edible coatings, chemical and heat treatments.

Postharvest Biology and Technology of Cherry

Cherry is a non climacteric fleshy drupe cultivated in the temperate regions of the world. The two commercially important species of cherries are sweet and sour cherries. Cherries are highly perishable and very difficult to handle after harvest. They are susceptible to bruising, desiccation and browning of stem. They are also susceptible to various physiological and microbial disorders. Several postharvest technologies have been developed to increase the shelf life and market value of cherries. These include controlled atmosphere storage, modified atmosphere storage (MAP), irradiation, edible coatings and some chemical treatments. The other methods meant for processed cherry products like dehydration, freezing and canning have also been adopted for processing of cherries.

Effect of different processing parameters on antioxidant activity of tea

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of different infusion conditions viz water temperature, steeping time and addition of milk on total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), tannin content (TC) and antioxidant activity (AOA) of tea. The extraction efficiency of these compounds significantly depends on infusion conditions. The highest TPC, TFC, TC and AOA were observed in tea infused at 100xa0°C for 15xa0min. The results indicated that higher water temperature and shorter steeping time are the best combination for the extraction of TPC and AOA of tea samples. The milk addition was observed to decrease the antioxidant activity of tea samples.

Variations in Brown Rice Quality Among Cultivars

Various types of rice varieties are produced in the different geographical regions of the world. Variety of rice cultivar is very important which significantly affects the quality characteristics of brown rice. Brown rice is known for its rich source of minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals and fibres mostly present in the bran layer contributing to the biological activities. Diversity in quality parameters of rice varieties depends mostly on the genetic background, fertilizer dose, climatic and soil conditions during the rice grain development, which affect the physicochemical, nutritional and cooking properties of particular variety. Variety of rice cultivars is selected according to the need of consumers and industry. Modern technologies of rice breeding programs continuously refine and improve genetic characteristics influencing quality traits, which has a great impact on consumer preferences. Brown rice from different varieties provides opportunities to promote the nutritional benefit and could have implications for commercial practice in the food industries.

Value-Added Products from Brown Rice

There is a huge potential for the development of rice-based products high in phytochemicals and nutritional components. In recent years, the nutritional significance of brown rice has been recognized and its consumption being encouraged. In order to increase the nutrient density of rice-based products, it is important to use brown rice as raw material in these types of products. Brown rice is having great importance to the rice industry particularly for the development of value-added products. Various types of products, viz. popped, extruded, bread, cakes, noodles, cookies, etc., have been developed from brown rice either alone or in combination with other flours. Value-added products from brown rice have good potential for consumer acceptance and are regarded as health-promoting functional foods. Introduction of brown rice-based products in the market would increase the diversity of functional products and, even more importantly, of functional foods suitable for celiac disease patients.

Germinated Brown Rice

Germinated brown rice is produced by soaking the brown rice in order to initiate budding. Several studies have been carried out to optimize the germination conditions and maximize the beneficial attributes of germinated brown rice, since the chemical composition of the grains change dramatically during germination. During germination, significant changes occur in biochemical, nutritional, and sensory characteristics. Germinated brown rice has been suggested as an alternative approach to mitigate highly prevalent diseases providing nutrients and biologically active compounds. Germination process generally results in improved levels of vitamins, minerals, fibers, and phytochemicals such as ferulic acid, gamma-aminobutyric acid, and γ-oryzanol. Consumption of germinated brown rice is receiving increasing attention supported by scientific evidence on its beneficial health effects reducing the risk of diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, type-2 diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. Germinated brown rice has been identified as a natural and inexpensive substitute of conventional white rice to improve nutritive and health status of a large population.