-
The Physico-chemical And Antioxidant Properties Of Culinary Herbs And Local Spies
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
Page 2 of 3
-
-
-
An antioxidant is defined as any substance which is capable of delaying,
retarding or preventing the development in food of rancidity or other
flavour deterioration due to oxidation,. Antioxidant are only one means
of fending packing or there are others such as vacuum packaging or
packing under an inert gas to exclude oxygen and refrigeration,
freezing, both of which greatly reduce the rate of authorization.
Furthermore, it is seldom realized how little oxygen is need to initiate
and maintain the oxidation process or how difficult and expensive it
can be to remove the last traces of air from a product. For these
reasons it is quite common to combine the use of antioxidants with inert
gas packing using an antioxidant should be seen as one of several
measures available, but used properly, it is generally effective, easily
applied and inexpensive.
The prime justification for using an
antioxidant is one of need an antioxidant can extend the shelf-life of a
food, reducing wastage and complaints, it can reduce nutritional losses
(oil soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A, are prone to oxidation)) and
a very important point for the food technologist, it can widen the
range of fat which can be used. Using an antioxidant enables the food
manufacturer to smooth out differences in the stability of fats/oils and
renders the food product less specific in terms of ingredient
requirements. This offers more scope for cost control without
jeopardizing the product quality of shelf-life, without an effective
antioxidant, lard for instance, would find far fewer uses.
Antioxidants serve two principle functions.
1. They break the oxidation chain by containing the free radicals or acting as hydrogen donor.
2.
They direct the breakdown of peroxides into stable substances that do
not promote further oxidation (Ihekornye and Ngoddy 1985).
An ideal antioxidant meets the following demands:
1. Safe in use.
2. Should impart no odour, flavour or colour.
3. Effective of low concentration.
4. Should be easy to incorporate
5. Should survive cooking process.
6. Should be available at now cost-in-use.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
Page 2 of 3
-
-
ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]A comparative study was done on the physico-chemical and antioxidant properties of some culinary herbs and local spices. Piper Guiness (Uziza), Xylopia aethopica (Uda), Monodora Myristica (Ehuru) and TrtraleuraTetraopera (Oshsho). The proximate analysis of these spices were done to determine their moisture content, ash content, crude fat crude fibre and protein content. Extraction of the Oleorasin from the spices and soybean oil were done using soxhlet extraction unit with hexane as solvent. ... Continue reading---
