Application of edible coating pretreatment before drying to prevent loss of plant essential oil: A case study of Zanthoxylum schinifolium fruits. (30th September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Yi; Xie, Hao; Tang, Xin; Qi, Yaru; Li, Yuanhui; Wan, Na; Yang, Ming; Wu, Zhenfeng
• Is Part Of: Food chemistry. Volume 389(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-09-30
• Subjects: Chemical composition -- Drying -- Essential oil -- Micromorphology -- Oil chamber -- Edible coating pretreatment; Food -- Analysis -- Periodicals; Food -- Composition -- Periodicals; 664
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.132828
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0308-8146

Abstract

Highlights: Coating pretreatment was innovatively used to prevent plant essential oil loss during drying. 2.5% CMC coating pretreatment gave 100% retention of total essential oil after drying. 2.5% CMC coating pretreatment caused a slight but acceptable increase of drying time. CMC coating pretreatment restricted chemical composition change in essential oil during drying. Coating pretreatment before drying had the protection effect on oil chamber morphology. Abstract: In this study, a novel use of edible coating pretreatment before convective hot-air drying to prevent the loss of essential oil (EO) in natural aromatic plant materials was successfully conducted on Zanthoxylum schinifolium fruits. The sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) aqueous solution was used as the coating material and the effects of its different concentration of 0–2.5% (w/v) on the drying kinetics, total EO content, EO composition and micromorphology of oil chamber were studied. Results showed that increasing concentration of CMC solution significantly increased the total EO retention (p < 0.05) and restricted the change in EO composition. Moreover, the highest CMC solution concentration gave 100% total EO retention, and meanwhile increased the drying time only by 45 min. Therefore, the application of edible coating pretreatment before drying presents a promising method to achieve excellent retention of plant EO.