Sensory and biochemical changes in Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) during blanching

AGÜERO MARÍA VICTORIA; PEREDA JULIETA; ROURA SARA INES; MOREIRA MARÍA R; DEL VALLE CARLOS E

LEBENSMITTEL-WISSENSCHAFT UND-TECHNOLOGIE-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Elsevier

Año: 2005 vol. 38 p. 772 - 778

0023-6438

The effects of blanching chard leaves under steam individually and in 3 and 5 leaves deep beds was investigated. Blanching for 30 s sufficed to inactivate peroxidase. Both the duration of the blanching process and the depth of blanching beds affected the loss of ascorbic acid, with a 31.35% retention for chard leaves blanched for 120 s in 5 leaves beds. Chlorophyll contents were not greatly affected. Reductions of about 2 orders of magnitude in mesophillic bacterial counts were obtained under all conditions tested. Sensory attributes of chard were best preserved when leaves were blanched individually.