Effect of Essential Oils and Dried Herbs on the Shelf Life of Fresh Goat Lump Cheese.

In recent years, the use of natural preservatives in food products has gained significant attention due to their potential health benefits and effectiveness. A standardized microbiological analysis was conducted on Slovak farm-produced lump goat cheese samples to determine the antibacterial activity of dry herbs and essential oils added to vacuum-packed goat cheese. We employed five dried herbs and five essential oils derived from the same plants. The microbiological quality of 145 fresh and vacuum-packed goat cheese samples was assessed. The number of coliform bacteria, total viable count, lactic acid bacteria, and microscopic filamentous fungi were examined in raw cheese samples stored for 12 days at 4 °C. All cheese samples were vacuum-packed (control samples were packed without vacuum). This study evaluated the potential benefits of using essential oils and dried herbs from thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.), black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), clove (Eugenia caryophyllus Thunb.), mint (Mentha × piperita L.), and basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) as preservatives. The essential oils were obtained from Hanus Ltd., Nitra, Slovakia, and were applied at a concentration of 2%. The dried herbs were obtained from Popradský caj (Poprad, Slovakia) and Mäspoma Ltd. (Zvolen, Slovakia). The results showed that all microorganism groups were significantly reduced in cheese samples following the application of essential oils throughout the entire storage period. During the preservation of cheese samples in polyethylene bags used for vacuum packing food, Lactococcus garvieae, L. lactis, Enterobacter cloacae, and Serratia liquefaciens were the most frequently isolated microbiota. Essential oils and dried herbs demonstrated antimicrobial potential during the storage of vacuum-packed goat cheese.

Nutritional and sensory parameters of amazake from the recycling of stale bread.

Stale bread is a waste product with a potential to be recycled. One way to manage this waste material is to process it by fermentation for the purpose of food production. This paper proposes the use of stale wheat and rye bread as ingredients in amazake, a liquid dessert traditionally obtained from rice by fermentation with the koji mould Aspergillus oryzae, followed by liquefaction by the action of fungal enzymes. The stale bread was introduced instead of rice at both the koji stage (wheat bread) and the liquefaction stage (wheat and rye bread). The resulting products had an extended volatile compound profile, from 5 to 15 compounds identified, and modified sensory parameters, compared to the traditional version. Amazake containing bread had an increased protein content, from 1.10 to 6.4 g/100 g, and were more abundant in dietary fibre (up to a maximum of 1.8 g/100 g), additionally enriched with a soluble fraction. The proposed procedure of obtaining of new formula amazake can be directly applied in households to reduce the amount of discarded bread. Due to its simplicity, it also has the potential for further modification in terms of production scale and product parameters.

Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas) Powder as a Functional Ingredient for the Formulation of Bread Loaves: Physical Properties, Nutritional Value, Phytochemical Composition, and Sensory Attributes.

In the current study, Cornelian cherry powder (CCP, Cornus mas) was investigated as a functional ingredient for bread production. Experimental bread loaves were prepared using five levels of CCP (0, 1, 2, 5, and 10% w/w) to replace wheat flour in bread formulation. The final products were analyzed regarding their proximate composition, content of selected biologically active substances, antioxidant activity (AA), volume, and sensory attributes. Increasing the incorporation of CCP led to significantly (p < 0.05) higher concentrations of carbohydrate, ash, energetic value, total polyphenols, phenolic acids and AA, and reduced fat and protein contents (p < 0.05). Moreover, up to 5% addition of CCP positively affected the volume (642.63 ± 7.24 mL) and specific volume (2.83 ± 0.02 cm3/g) of bread loaves, which were significantly (p < 0.05) higher compared to the control (no addition of CCP; 576.99 ± 2.97 mL; 2.55 ± 0.002 cm3/g). The sensory attributes chewiness, crumb springiness, bitterness, and sourness had lower scores (p < 0.05) in bread formulated with 10% CCP compared to the control. Overall, results show that the bread loaves produced with up to 5% CCP addition were considered the preferred formulation among the experimental samples tested, taking into consideration their composition, bioactive content, sensory, and physical properties.