Role of Spices Beyond a Flavouring Agent

Plants, principally spices and herbs, have been given much more attention because they are considered important for flavoring and coloring foods and their use as condiments. Herbs and spices have been used for generations by humans as food and also to treat ailments since they are full of medicinal and antioxidant properties and contain bioactive compounds like tannins, alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, polyphenols, and vitamins, which help in healing diseases. Spices and herbs contain biomolecules that play a crucial role in healthcare and fitness levels. Spices and herbs have been considered as esoteric food adjuncts as they play numerous roles like being coloring agents, flavoring agents, preservatives, food additives, and having uses in the medicinal and pharmaceutical industries.

In Situ Wood Fiber Dyeing Through Laccase Catalysis for Fiberboard Production

The aim of the present work was to develop an innovative and environmentally friendly process for wood fiber dyeing and to produce 3-dimensionally fully colored medium-density fiberboard (MDF). The potential of laccase-catalyzed polymerization of selected precursors to form dyes useful in fiberboard manufacturing, a technique used for the first time in this field, was demonstrated. Some of the 7 aromatic compounds tested yielded colored products after laccase treatment under both acid and alkaline conditions, and a good variety of colors was attained by using mixtures of two different monomers. To demonstrate the coloration and design potential of laccase conversion of aromatic compounds, MDFs were enzymatically dyed using an in situ one-step laccase-catalyzed coloration process, and the results were compared against commercial MDFs obtained by using organic coloring agents. Important advantages over conventional processing methods include good color fastness and, in some cases, new hydrophobic properties, allowing designers and woodworkers to explore the beauty of textures and the use of simpler and milder processing conditions that eliminate harsh chemical use and reduce energy consumption.

3D Food Printing: Principles of Obtaining Digitally-Designed Nourishment

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology gained significance in the fields of medicine, engineering, the food industry, and molecular gastronomy. 3D food printing (3DFP) has the main objective of tailored food manufacturing, both in terms of sensory properties and nutritional content. Additionally, global challenges like food-waste reduction could be addressed through this technology by improving process parameters and by sustainable use of ingredients, including the incorporation of recovered nutrients from agro-industrial by-products in printed nourishment. The aim of the present review is to highlight the implementation of 3DFP in personalized nutrition, considering the technology applied, the texture and structure of the final product, and the integrated constituents like binding/coloring agents and fortifying ingredients, in order to reach general acceptance of the consumer. Personalized 3DFP refers to special dietary necessities and can be promising to prevent different non-communicable diseases through improved functional food products, containing bioactive compounds like proteins, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and/or probiotics.

Formulation and Evaluation of Aloe Vera Gel Shampoo

Aloe Vera is a natural product which is now a days used in the field of cosmetology. Our formulation is to formulate a herbal shampoo using a plant extract which is used as hair washing and conditioning shampoo to treat hair loss and prevent itching scalp and dandruff. is effective than the marketed shampoo as we have used essential oils like coconut oil which is derived from the coconut palm fruit , lavender oil which is derived from the flowers of lavender, rosemary oil derived from the flowering tops of rosemary. eucalyptus oil which is derived from the leaves of eucalyptus plant and some other excepients like antioxidants stabilizers, solubilizing agents, surfactants, cleansing agents, coloring agents and preservatives. All of these are used for the aim to improve the smoothening , shining and growth of the hair. Our study has evaluated all the tests like foaming ability test, pH determination, skin irritancy test, conditioning performance, wettability and in all those test it has shown good results when compared to the marketed shampoo.

Voltammetric Determination of Various Food Azo Dyes Using Different Modified Carbon Paste Electrodes

The food industries are developing very fast by improving the taste, odor, appearance of various food products. To do so, they are adding a variety of preservatives, sweeteners, and coloring agents and attracting a huge community of people. Dyes or coloring agents play an important role in enriching food's appearance, quality, and taste. Most used food coloring agents are synthetic azo dyes. They are cheaper than natural dyes, therefore, they are used in huge amounts very frequently. Most of the azo dyes like Amaranth, Tartrazine, Allura Red AC, and Metanil Yellow can cause serious health issues for all the living system, and therefore the use of them in food should be controlled, or the optimum level of these dyes in food and beverages should be measured. Many methods like thin layer chromatography, mass spectroscopy, spectrophotometry, capillary electrophoresis, cyclic voltammetry, high-performance liquid chromatography are used to detect azo dyes in the food. But cyclic voltammetry method is one of the simple, robust, highly selective, accurate, high speed, economical, and highly sensitive methods to determine the presence of azo dyes in foods. The main subject of this review article is the detection of several azo dyes utilizing modified carbon paste electrodes and cyclic voltammetry.

Integrative Metabolomic and Transcriptomic Analyses Uncover Metabolic Alterations and Pigment Diversity in Monascus in Response to Different Nitrogen Sources

Natural MPs containing a mixture of red, orange, and yellow pigments are widely used as food coloring agents. MP diversity provides foods with versatile colors and health benefits but, in turn, complicate efforts to achieve maximum yield or desirable combination of pigments during the manufacturing process.

Red Beetroot’s NMR-Based Metabolomics: Phytochemical Profile Related to Development Time and Production Year

Red beetroot (RB) is a well-known health-promoting food consumed worldwide. RB is commonly used in food processing and manufacturing thanks to the high content of components that can also be employed as natural coloring agents. These bioactive molecules vary their concentration depending on beetroot seasonality, harvest time and climate conditions. The first objective of this study was to evaluate the variation of the RB phytochemical profile related to the root development during three different harvest times, using an 1H-NMR-based metabolomic approach. Changes of carbohydrates and secondary metabolite concentrations were observed from July to September. Secondly, we compared the metabolic profiles of the final processed beet juices in three different production years to observe the effect of climate conditions on the RB’s final product metabotype. A PCA analysis performed on juice extracts showed that production years 2016 and 2017 were characterized by a high content of choline and betaine, while 2018 by a high content of amino acids and dopamine and a low content of inorganic nitrates. This study suggests that the harvest time and roots growth conditions could be used to modulate the RB phytochemical profile, according to the final requirements of use, food or coloring agent source.

Yeast race effect on the quality of base and young sparkling wines

Introduction. A disadvantage of the ancestral method (la méthode ancestrale), which is widely used in the production of sparkling wine, is that it is difficult to control fermentation. We aimed to identify the optimal yeast race for obtaining high-quality young sparkling wines with varietal aroma without yeast tones. Study objects and methods. Our study objects were base and young sparkling wines from Cabernet-Sauvignon prepared on various yeast races. Organic acids, sugars, and ethanol contents were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Phenolic and coloring substances were measured by colorimetric method. Foaming properties were determined by air barbotage of a wine sample in a measuring cylinder; sparkling properties, by measuring the CO2 desorption rate; CO2 content, by volumetric method; viscosity, with a viscometer. Sensory evaluation was carried out according to standard methods. Results and discussion. The wines produced on the Odesskiy Chernyi-SD13 yeast race received the highest tasting scores of 7.82 and 9.05 points for base wine and young sparkling wines, respectively. They contained larger amounts of phenolic substances (1103 mg/dm3) and coloring agents (275 mg/dm3) and had higher color intensity (1.614). The panelists rated them highly on their complex varietal aroma and harmonious, velvety flavor, as well as their foaming and sparkling properties. This yeast race ensured intensive fermentation of sugars and a great amount of bound CO2 (up to 24.93%). Conclusion. The Odesskiy Chernyi-SD13 yeast race is optimal for making base and young sparkling wines by the bottle method. This technology can be used to produce high-quality sparkling wines in the crop year by large and small enterprises.

Caught in a Booby Trap

How did the blue-footed booby evolve those lovely blue feet? Genetic analysis shows that the blue-footed booby shared a recent common ancestor with the grey-footed Peruvian booby of coastal South America. Unlike the latter, whose diet includes anchovies and sardines, the blue-footed booby is a sardine specialist that feeds by plunge diving exclusively into cold-water upwellings, like those of the Cromwell current. Sardines normally abound in Galápagos, but not anchovies—the strong currents quickly carry away their young. But sardines are also rich in blue-green coloring agents (carotenes) that show up in the feet of successful booby divers. Hence it’s an uncanny “fit” of the blue-footed booby to island conditions is uncanny: did it evolve in Galápagos from continental ancestors who followed trade winds west? The species also regulates brood sizes in relation to sardine supply via flexible siblicide, which surely helps in coping with ENSO. It shares siblicide with its close Galápagos relative, the Nazca booby, as well as aggressive NAV behavior in which nonparental adult visitors peck at innocent, unrelated chicks until they bleed or drown. New evidence from brown boobies—another close relative—suggests that this behavior evolved as a result of benefits from survival cannibalism during extreme El Niños.