Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
Istituto di Scienze dell'Alimentazione (ISA), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), 83100 Avellino, Italy.
Molecules. 2023 Oct 21;28(20):7207. doi: 10.3390/molecules28207207.
Sea fennel ( L.) is a strongly aromatic herb of the Apiaceae family, whose full exploitation by the modern food industry is of growing interest. This study aimed at investigating the microbiological quality, volatile profile, and sensory traits of sea fennel spices produced using room-temperature drying, oven drying, microwave drying, and freeze drying. All the assayed methods were able to remove moisture up until water activity values below 0.6 were reached; however, except for microwave drying, none of the assayed methods were effective in reducing the loads of contaminating microorganisms. The metataxonomic analysis highlighted the presence of phytopathogens and even human pathogens, including members of the genera , , and . When compared to fresh leaves, dried leaves showed increased L* (lightness) and c* (chroma, saturation) values and reduced hue angle. Dried leaves were also characterized by decreased levels of terpene hydrocarbons and increased levels of aldehydes, alcohols, and esters. For the sensory test, the microwave-dried samples obtained the highest appreciation by the trained panel. Overall, the collected data indicated microwave drying as the best option for producing sea fennel spices with low microbial loads, brilliant green color, and high-quality sensory traits.
海茴香（L.）是伞形科的一种强烈芳香草本植物，其在现代食品工业中的充分利用越来越受到关注。本研究旨在调查使用室温干燥、烤箱干燥、微波干燥和冷冻干燥生产的海茴香香料的微生物质量、挥发性成分和感官特性。所有测试的方法都能够去除水分，直到水活度值降至 0.6 以下；然而，除了微波干燥，测试的方法都无法有效降低污染微生物的负荷。分类群分析突出了存在植物病原菌，甚至人类病原体，包括属 、 、 和 的成员。与新鲜叶片相比，干燥叶片的 L*（亮度）和 c*（色度，饱和度）值增加，色调角降低。干燥叶片的萜烯碳氢化合物水平降低，醛、醇和酯水平升高。在感官测试中，经过培训的品尝小组对微波干燥的样品给予了最高的评价。总的来说，收集的数据表明，微波干燥是生产低微生物负荷、鲜绿色和高质量感官特性的海茴香香料的最佳选择。
