Food Science and Technology Vol. 2(3), pp. 34 - 40
DOI: 10.13189/fst.2014.020302
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Nutritional and Antioxidant Properties of Date Pastes and Blanching Water Obtained from by-Products of Medjoul and Confitera Cultivars


Lorena Trigueros , Esther Sendra *
IPOA Research Group (UMH-1 and REVIV_Generalitat Valenciana), Departamento de Tecnología Agroalimentaria, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Ctra. de Beniel km 3.2, 03312, Orihuela (Alicante), Spain

ABSTRACT

The date industry faces economic losses due to non-conformities with quality standards (pre and post-harvest defects). The present study deals with two types of discarded date palm: Medjoul (post-harvest defects) and Confitera (pre-harvest cracks) with the aim to obtain valuable products. Dates were processed to obtain paste and blanching water. Nutritional value and antioxidant properties of the paste and blanching water were determined. Medjoul paste and blanching water have demonstrated to be a good source of sugars (33.02% and 5.44%, respectively) whereas Confitera paste and blanching water have an important content in phenols and flavonoids, which in particular confers antioxidant properties to Confitera blanching water. Furthermore both date pastes are a good source of fiber. Blanching process especially affects Confitera cultivar since a huge amount of organic acids, phenolics and flavonoids are solubilized and leaked during date processing, increasing the bioactive content in Confitera blanching water. These results showed the opportunity to incorporate these new products from non-commercial dates as functional ingredients into the food chain helping, whereas improving, waste management in the date industry.

KEYWORDS
Date Palm, Date Paste, Blanching Water, Waste Management, Valorization

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Lorena Trigueros , Esther Sendra , "Nutritional and Antioxidant Properties of Date Pastes and Blanching Water Obtained from by-Products of Medjoul and Confitera Cultivars," Food Science and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 34 - 40, 2014. DOI: 10.13189/fst.2014.020302.

(b). APA Format:
Lorena Trigueros , Esther Sendra (2014). Nutritional and Antioxidant Properties of Date Pastes and Blanching Water Obtained from by-Products of Medjoul and Confitera Cultivars. Food Science and Technology, 2(3), 34 - 40. DOI: 10.13189/fst.2014.020302.