Phytochemical constituents and biological properties of domesticated capsicum species: a review

Pepper (Capsicum spp) is cultivated and consumed in almost every region of the world both as fresh vegetable and dried spice. Capsicum and its different varieties possess many valuable properties which distinguish them from other vegetables and in many food items as a spice for its strong pungent flavor that is produced during the secondary metabolism of the plant.Capsicum fruit exhibits a multiple color profile due to the presence of carotenoids which can be used as a natural coloring agent and antioxidant. Almost all the parts of the capsicum are considered a rich source of health-related bioactive compounds including polyphenols, flavonoids, and other aromatic compounds. One of the important biological properties of capsicum is its ability to act as antioxidants to reduce oxidative stress leading to the prevention of several degenerative diseases. The functional compounds of capsicum exhibit excellent antimicrobial properties, particularly against gram-positive pathogenic microorganisms. The nutraceutical functionality of phytogenic compounds obtained from capsicum also confirms the anticarcinogenic and cardio-preventive effectiveness. The essential oils from capsicum are also being used as anti-aging substances in cosmetic products. Accordingly, this article is an attempt to provide an overview of the chemical and functional properties of the bioactive compounds sourced from capsicum and their effective utilization in the medicine, food, agricultural, cosmetic, and textile industries.Keywords: Capsicum, capsaicinoids, capsaicin, carotenoids, pungency

Quality Characteristics of Spelt Pasta Enriched with Spent Grain

Agri-industrial by-products are valuable resources that can become ingredients for obtaining value-added products, thus supporting the circular economy. Spent grain is the primary by-product from the beer and whisky industry, is rich in fiber and protein, and can be successfully incorporated into pasta production. After dough properties were assessed, the resulting pasta was evaluated for chemical composition, phenolics content, as well as antioxidant activity. The cooked pasta quality was similarly evaluated on its physical properties, hardness, color profile of dry and hydrated pasta, and its sensory characteristics, as well as on the microstructure of the final products. Non-traditional ingredients such as spent grain and spelt flour influence the rheological properties of the dough and sensory acceptability and quality of the final cooked product. Spelt flour with the addition of spent grain can be used to obtain dry pasta of acceptable quality, with a high fiber content and biologically active compound, such as phenolic compounds. Using appropriate technologies, but also balanced recipes can incorporate suitable amounts of spent grain in pasta, resulting in final products characterized by desired dietary-nutritional values, as well as optimal sensory properties.

Color changes in beef meat during pan cooking: kinetics, modeling and application to predict turn over time

The kinetics of heat-induced color changes in beef meat was determined and implemented in a numerical model for double-sided pan cooking of steak. The CIELab color space was used to obtain the lightness (coordinate $$L^*$$ L ∗ ) and the reddish tone (coordinate $$a^*$$ a ∗ ) of the cooked meat. $$L^*$$ L ∗ was the CIELab coordinate that contributed the most to the change in the absolute color. Two response surfaces were found to describe the evolution with time and temperature of both color coordinates, $$L^*$$ L ∗ and $$a^*$$ a ∗ . The model results were successfully verified with experimental data of the two coordinates along the thickness of the meat for three degrees of cooking. The Root-Mean-Squared Errors (RMSE) for coordinate $$L^*$$ L ∗ were 5.17 (very rare), 2.02 (medium rare) and 3.83 (done), and for coordinate $$a^*$$ a ∗ 1.44 (very rare), 1.26 (medium rare) and 0.89 (done). The applicability of the model for practical cooking purposes was illustrated by determining the optimum turn over time to achieve a similar color profile on both sides of the meat. The turn over time depended on the desired degrees of cooking, and were comprised between one-half and two-thirds of the final cooking time, increasing from very rare cooking degree to done cooking degree.

Color Accuracy-Guided Data Reduction for Practical LED-based Multispectral Imaging

The color accuracy of an LED-based multispectral imaging strategy has been evaluated with respect to the number of spectral bands used to build a color profile and render the final image. Images were captured under select illumination conditions provided by 10-channel LED light sources. First, the imaging system was characterized in its full 10-band capacity, in which an image was captured under illumination by each of the 10 LEDs in turn, and the full set used to derive a system profile. Then, the system was characterized in increasingly reduced capacities, obtained by reducing the number of bands in two ways. In one approach, image bands were systematically removed from the full 10-band set. In the other, images were captured under illumination by groups of several of the LEDs at once. For both approaches, the system was characterized using different combinations of image bands until the optimal set, giving the highest color accuracy, was determined when a total of only 9, 8, 7, or 6 bands was used to derive the profile. The results indicate that color accuracy is nearly equivalent when rendering images based on the optimal combination of anywhere from 6 to 10 spectral bands, and is maintained at a higher level than that of conventional RGB imaging. This information is a first step toward informing the development of practical LED-based multispectral imaging strategies that make spectral image capture simpler and more efficient for heritage digitization workflows.

Probiotic Yoghurts with Sea Buckthorn, Elderberry, and Sloe Fruit Purees

Elderberries, sea buckthorn, and sloe berries are fruits of wild-grown bushes, valued in folk medicine for their health-promoting properties but still rarely applied in food. The aim of the present study was to produce probiotic yoghurts with a 10% addition of sweetened purees prepared from elderberries (EPY), sea buckthorn (SBPY), and sloe berries (SPY) and to assess their chemical composition, acidity, content of polyphenols and anthocyanins, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and antiradical power (ARP), level of starter microbiota, concentration of acetaldehyde and diacetyl, syneresis, instrumentally measured color and texture parameters, and sensory acceptance. The results were compared to those obtained for plain probiotic yoghurt (PPY) and the changes tracked during 1 month of cold storage at 2 week intervals. The addition of elderberry and sloe berries significantly increased the antioxidant capacity of probiotic yoghurts, probably due to a high content of polyphenols, especially anthocyanins. However, anthocyanins were more stable in the EPY when compared to the SPY. All yoghurt treatments were characterized by good sensory quality and viability of starter microorganisms, including probiotic strains during cold storage. Elderberries promoted the evolution of diacetyl in yoghurts during storage and, together with sloe berries, produced increased syneresis and the greatest changes in color profile compared to PPY.

Quantification method of suspended solids in micromodel using image analysis

Micromodel can provide valuable information to improve understanding of pore-scale transport phenomenon and can also be utilized to simulate the transport process at pore scale. This research aims to propose settlement option for quantification of suspended solids in micromodel. The micromodel is used to mimic the formation damage which occurs in reservoir formation that could simultaneously affect enhanced oil recovery. This is done by utilizing visual image interpretation through image analysis on micromodel chip. Following the quantification of suspended solids, the micromodel was injected with brine that eventually forms agglomeration. Images are taken from NIS-Element AR microscope automatically in RGB color profile and then made into grayscale and finally into binary modes. Since the micromodel is simulated in 2D form structure, the quantification method complemented with image analysis is focusing on the quantified area, µm2 region of interest categorized into 3 main groups of area B05, M45 and T50, respectively. This research will explore on segmentation and thresholding processes of the visual data acquired from micromodel experiment. An image-based computational algorithm is programmed in MATLAB Image Processing Toolbox and ImageJ; hence, suspended solids in porous media could be quantified from the visual image executed in micromodel.

KANDUNGAN MIOGLOBIN IKAN TUNA (Thunnus albacares) DENGAN PEMAKAIAN KARBON MONOKSIDA DAN FILTER SMOKE SELAMA PENYIMPANAN BEKU

A part of fish flesh denaturation was caused by the formation of metmyoglobin, which resulted brownish color. Carbon monoxide (CO) and filtered smoke (FS) will react myoglobine to establish carboximyoglobine the stable form of red figment of tuna flesh. The purpose of this study was to determine the myoglobin changes of tuna flesh by treated CO and FS during frozen storage. The research method was an experimental where the tuna (Thunnus albacores) loin was sprayed by CO and FS, then kept at frozen storage during 4 weeks. Observations carried out at 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks. The surveillance parameters were: myoglobin content, color and protein profile of tuna loin. The result showed the myoglobin content of tuna loin during storage at 0, 1,2, 3, and 4 week were 31.34 mg%, 29.05 mg%, 31.25 mg%, 36.28mg% and 41.01 mg% respectively, while FS were 18.42 mg%, 20.82 mg%, 24.32 mg%, 34.72 mg% and 52.48mg% respectively. According to the color analysis of tuna loin treated by CO and FS, it indicated that the brightness value L* of the tuna loin treated by CO during storage at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 week were 26.33; 43.67; 36; 24.33; and 20.33 resvectively and treated by FS there were 30; 42; 37; 27, 25,and 67 resvectively. The red color based on a * and b * values calculated by oHue, of the tuna loin treated by CO during storage at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 week were 47.26; 55.41; 54.42; 46.52; and 42.09 respectively and the tuna loin treated by FS were 50.57; 55.82; 55.61; 50,81 and 40,47 respectively. It concluded that both tuna loin treated by CO and FS classified as red color. Profile of tuna loin protein treated by CO and FS obtained 2 bands indicated by molecular weights of 100.92 kD and 52.05 kD.The myoglobin content of tuna treaded by CO and FS during storage increased so it categorized as a good quality.

The Threshold for the Full Perfect Matching Color Profile in a Random Coloring of Random Graphs

Consider a graph $G$ with a coloring of its edge set $E(G)$ from a set $Q = \{c_1,c_2, \ldots, c_q\}$. Let $Q_i$ be the set of all edges colored with $c_i$. Recently, Frieze defined a notion of the perfect matching color profile denoted by $\mathrm{mcp}(G)$, which is the set of vectors $(m_1, m_2, \ldots, m_q)$ such that there exists a perfect matching $M$ in $G$ with $|Q_i \cap M| = m_i$ for all $i$. Let $\alpha_1, \alpha_2, \ldots, \alpha_q$ be positive constants such that $\sum_{i=1}^q \alpha_i = 1$. Let $G$ be the random bipartite graph $G_{n,n,p}$. Suppose the edges of $G$ are independently colored with color $c_i$ with probability $\alpha_i$. We determine the threshold for the event $\mathrm{mcp}(G) = \{(m_1, \ldots, m_q) \in [0,n]^q : m_1 + \cdots + m_q = n\},$ answering a question posed by Frieze. We further extend our methods to find the threshold for the same event in a randomly colored random graph $G_{n,p}$.