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  • Microbial assessment of potential functional dairy products with added dried herbs
    59-63
    Views:
    112

    The market of dairy products is a dynamically developing sector of the food industry. Potential, functional dairy products, made by adding herbs or spices, will have antimicrobial and antioxidant effect due to the active biochemical agents of the plant additives. Furthermore, these active components will widen the storage life of food products and enhance their organoleptic properties too. We worked out a technology for creating fresh cheeses using a gentle pasteurizing method by treating the mixture of raw milk and 1.5% fat contained in commercial milk. As herb additives, we used citronella (Melissa officinalis), and peppermint (Mentha x piperita) harvested by us and dried them via Tyndall-method in convective dryer on 40 °C for 5.5 hours per day. The drying period took three days. We bought dried citronella and mint from the supermarket, which were dried by ionizing radiation, to compare the microbiological pollution with the herbs dried by us.

    The main target of this research was to create a microbiologically stable, potential functional dairy product. However, because of the bad quality of the raw milk and the gentle heat treatment we used for sterilizing bulk milk, or else, cheeses were not safe for human consumption. As a consequence, we need further studies to modify our technology and get a microbiologically stable product.

  • Change of antioxidant compounds of spices during drying
    77-81
    Views:
    129

    Spices and herbs have been used by humanity for thousands of years, so they are very important plants.

    In this study, the change of dry matter content and antioxidant compounds of eight spices (basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, parsley, lemongrass, chives, coriander) have been examined the raw plants and in plants preserved by three different drying methods (an oven in 50–60°C; drying at room temperature; lyophilisation between -40 and -50°C, under pressure), because we wanted to see the change of the parameters.

    The water content of raw plants was very high, i.e. the dry matter content was very low. By the application of the three drying methods nearly 100% of the water has left the plants, with the exception of the lyophilized basil and rosemary.

    Based on the results related to the original material, lyophilized has proved to be the best treatment for the preservation of antioxidant compounds, however air drying also showed high results for some spices.

     

  • The toxic effects of aflatoxin microorganisms in plants used as spices
    59-62
    Views:
    65

    As an extension of the analysis of black, white and capsicum peppers for aflatoxins , we have examined an additional 11 types of spices and
    4 herbs for these mycotoxins. The investigations consisted of assessment of the applicability of available methods of analysis and modifications of
    these, where necessary together, with a limited survey of each spice and herb for aflatoxins. The analysis of 13 types of ground spices reported
    the presence of low concentrations of aflatoxins in some samples of black pepper, celery seed, and nutmeg. We decided to include in our study 5
    of the spices examined by these workers (cinnamon, celery seed, coriander, nutmeg, and turmeric) for a comparison purpose. In addition we
    examined ginger, mace, cumin seed, dill seed, garlic powder, onion powder, and the herbs marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and sage.