Sequential steps of the incorporation of bioactive plant extracts from wild Italian Plantago coronopus L. and Cichorium intybus L. leaves in fresh egg pasta

• Published in: Food chemistry 2022-08, Vol.384, p.132462-132462, Article 132462
• Main Authors: Ceccanti, Costanza, Finimundy, Tiane C., Melgar, Bruno, Pereira, Carla, Ferreira, Isabel C.F.R., Barros, Lillian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antioxidants - analysis; Cichorium intybus - chemistry; Cichorium intybus L; Enriched pasta; Functional food; Nutraceutical properties; Phenols - analysis; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant Leaves - chemistry; Plantago - metabolism; Plantago coronopus L; Triticum - metabolism; Wild plants
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.132462

•Chicoric acid and verbascoside were the main compounds of chicory and buck's-horn.•Enrichment of fresh egg pasta with plant extract was studied as a functional food.•An optimization of the enriched pasta making process was proposed.•Phenolic acids, phenylpropanoids and flavonoids were found in the enriched pasta. The application of bioactive extracts from Cichorium intybus L. and Plantago coronopus L. species were incorporated as a functional ingredient in fresh egg pasta (Fettuccine). In that sense, a pasta making procedure was accessed using different concentrations of the plant extracts (0.25–0.63 mg/g), drying times (20–420 min) and drying temperatures (40–90 °C; only for P. coronopus enriched pasta), to screen an optimal factor selection in the pasta making procedure and to enhance the bioactive properties of the final product. In the chemical characterisation of the plant extracts, twenty-five phenolic compounds were tentatively identified (twenty compounds belonging to phenolic acid and phenylpropanoid classes and five belonging to the flavonoid sub-class) and a strong synergy between the plant extract concentration and the drying time was showed. The analysed antioxidant properties were enhanced by the phenolic compounds of the extracts and a new functional food with higher bioactive quality was developed.