An innovative process for the production of spices through immediate thermal treatment of the plant material.

摘要

Herbs and spices may be irradiated to improve shelf life and food safety. However, consumer resistance to the use of irradiation on foods means that alternative pasteurisation/sterilisation techniques are needed to kill spoilage microorganisms, and to inactivate enzymes. This study shows that fresh-harvested coriander, ginger, green pepper, and chilli pepper blanched (water or steam at around 80 C to 100 C for less than 10 minutes) then ground and lyophilised yielded a product with superior microbial quality and better appearance than conventionally treated material (i.e. sterilised and lyophilised). Although the new process gave a better product, there were still losses of volatile flavour compounds.