Effect of Echinacea purpurea Extract on Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Fresh Cheese

article in a collection out of WoS and Scopus

English

Codex Alimentarius defines fresh cheeses as „… products which are ready for consumption shortly after manufacture.“ They represent a diverse group of products produced by coagulation of milk, cream or whey in three different ways: using acid, combination of acid with rennet and/or acid with elevated temperature. In this work, the model fresh acid-curd cheese samples were produced using standard technology, acetic acid was used as coagulant. Produced samples were enriched with the extract of Echinacea purpurea flowers (2% w/w) as natural flavouring ingredient. Echinacea purpurea, called purple coneflower, is a perennial herb with pink or purple flowers, belonging to the Asteraceae family. Several studies suggest that it contains bioactive substances that boost immune system, relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and have hormonal, antiviral, and antioxidant effects. It is recommended to treat e.g. urinary, vaginal or respiratory tract infections. For this reason, it is used for medicinal purposes in the form of e.g. extracts, tinctures, tablets. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of extract addition on antioxidant potential of produced cheese samples, simultaneously, sensory quality was evaluated in connection with aroma profile assessment. The results indicate that addition of extract significantly influenced chemical composition of cheese. Cheeses were enriched by several volatile aroma compounds, mainly Borneol, Bornyl acetate and Camphor, which were recognized as Echinacea components. They are characterized by camphor, woody, herbal aroma and are also considered as important antioxidants. Compared to control cheese (without addition of extract) enriched cheese showed increased nutritional value; total antioxidant activity (ABTS assay) was 197.1 μgTEAC/g, the total phenolics content (Folin-Ciocalteu method) 0.17 mg GAE/g of cheese; however, sensory quality was negatively influenced. Cheeses have inhomogeneous, unusual brownish colour and noticeably bitter flavour.

Fresh cheese, Echinacea purpurea, antioxidant activity, sensory quality

GROSS, M.; VÍTOVÁ, E.; RYCHETSKÝ, M.

15. 9. 2023

University of Chemistry and Technology Prague

Prague

978-80-7592-204-5

Book of abstracts 9th International Conference on CHEMICAL REACTIONS IN FOODS IX (CRF 2023)

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https://crf2023.eu/pdf/BoA%20CRF%202023_final%20web.pdf