Quality and stability of frozen carrots fortified with green tea polyphenols

Summary

In this study the use of green tea extract (GTE) for the production of frozen carrots fortified with GT polyphenols was investigated. To this purpose, sliced carrots (0.5 cm) were pre-treated by blanching (90 °C; 180 sec) and vacuum impregnated (50 mbar; 10 minutes) in water or GT extract solution (0.25% w/w), and thereafter frozen (-40 °C) and stored at -18 °C for 60 days. In order to evaluate the effect of processing on the functional properties, the overall quality and stability of carrots, fresh and pre-treated samples were evaluated before and after frozen storage for their colour, firmness, total carotenoids and polyphenols content (TPC), and antioxidant activity (AOA).