NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF CHIVE EDIBLE FLOWERS

Monika Grzeszczuk

West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin

Aneta Wesołowska

West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin

Dorota Jadczak

West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin

Barbara Jakubowska

West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin



Abstract

Edible flowers have been used in traditional and herbal medicine since ancient times, but its nutritional value have not been studied in depth. The lavender-pink globular flower heads of chive not only beautify the garden or dried bouquets, but they can also be used to prepare chive vinegar, salads or soups. The aim of this work was to determine the nutritional value of flowers of the chive cultivated at the Horticultural Experiment Station in Dołuje (north-western Poland) in the years 2009 and 2010. In the raw plant material, the content of dry matter, total ash, total protein, titratable acidity, vitamin C as L-ascorbic acid, total and reducing sugars, fat, crude fibre, polyphenols, total carotenoids, chlorophylls, pungency, free radical scavenging activity and energy value were measured. The Allium schoenoprasum L. dried flowers were extracted by ethanol at 50C and at room temperature (maceration). The obtained extracts were analyzed by GC-MS method. The
analysis revealed that the flowers contained much important fatty acids with palmitic acid (7.94–16.94%), linoleic acid (7.63–13.45%) and stearic acid (3.13–31.16%), the most abundant saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, as well as γ-sitosterol (3.41–6.42%), campesterol (0.34–0.66%), fucosterol (0.29–0.51%) and vitamin E (0.16–0.49%). Moreover, in the dry plant material content of total flavonoids was assessed.

Keywords:

Allium schoenoprasum L., chemical compounds, biological value, antioxidants, GC, MS

Awad A.B., Fink C.S., 2000. Phytosterols as anticancer dietary components: evidence and mechanism of action. J. Nutr. 130, 2127–2130.
Ban J.O., Hwang I.G., Kim T.M., Hwang B.Y., Lee U.S., Jeong H.-S., Yoon Y.W., Kim D.J., Hong J.T., 2007. Anti-proliferate and pro-apoptotic effects of 2,3-dihydro-3,5-di-hydroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyranone through inactivation of NF-KB in human colon cancer cells. Arch. Pharm. Res. 30 (11), 1455–1463.
Bernhard R.A., 1969. The sulfur components of Allium species as flavouring matter. Qual. Plant. Mater. Veg. XVIII (1–3), 72–84.
Block E., 1994. Flavorants from garlic, onion and other Alliums and their cancer-preventive properties. American Chemical Society Symposium Service-Food Phytochemicals for Cancer Prevention I, 546, 84–96.
Bloem E., Haneklaus S., Schnug E., 2003. Schwefel – für gesunde Pflanzen und gesunde Menschen. Bundesministerium für Verbraucherschutz, Ernährung und Landwirtschaft, Forschungs Report 1, 24–26.
Bouic P. J. D., 2001. The role of phytosterols and phytosterolins in immune modulation: a review of the past 10 years. Curr. Opin. Clin. Nutr. Metab. Care. 4, 471–475.
Farmakopea Polska VI, 2002. Oznaczanie zawartości flawonoidów.
Gardner J. A., 1998. Herbs in bloom: a guide to growing herbs as ornamental plants. Timber Press Inc. Portland, USA, 81–85.
Haq K., Ali M., 2003. Biologically active sulphur compounds of plant origin. 375. [In:] Sulphur in plants (Abrol Y.P., Ahmad A.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Horbowicz M., 1998. Effect of stage of onion maturity on pungency changes during storage. Biul. Warzywn. 48, 121–129.
Horbowicz M., Bąkowski J., 1998. Wpływ procesów technologicznych – suszenia i mrożenia oraz przechowywania suszonej i mrożonej cebuli na jej ostrość. Przem. Ferment. Owoc. Warz. 42 (3), 21–24.
Jadczak D., Wójcik-Stopczyńska B., 2007. Influence of plant covering on some organic compound content and pungency of shallot grown for bunching harvest. Veg. Crops Res. Bull. 66, 25–30.
Kamel B. S., Kakuda Y., 2008. Fatty acids in fruits and fruit products. 291–292. In: Fatty acids in foods and their health implications (Chow Ch. K.), CRC Press, USA.
Klepacka M., 1996. Analiza żywności. Fundacja Rozwój SGGW, Warszawa.
Kmiecik W., Lisiewska Z., 1999. Effect of pretreatment and conditions and period of storage on some quality indices on frozen chive (Allium schoenoprasum L.). Food Chem. 67, 61–66.
Kowalski R., Rodkiewicz T., 2009. Fatty acids in oil from Allium vegetable seeds. Chem. Nat. Compd. 45 (3), 409–410.
Krełowska-Kułas M., 1993. Oznaczanie kwasowości ogólnej metodą miareczkowania potencjometrycznego. In: Badanie jakości produktów spożywczych. PWE, Warszawa.
Kunachowicz H., Nadolna I., Przygoda B., Iwanow K., 1998. Tabele wartości odżywczej produktów spożywczych. IŻŻ, Warszawa.
Larsen E., Christensen L.P., 2005. Simple saponification method for the quantitative determination of carotenoids in green vegetables. J. Agric. Food Chem. 53, 6598–6602.
Leino M. E., 1992. Effect of freezing, freeze-drying, and air-drying on odor of chive characterized by headspace gas chromatography and sensory analyses. J. Agric. Food Chem. 40, 1379–1384.
Lichtenthaler H.K., Wellburn A.R., 1983. Determination of total carotenoids and chlorophylls a and b of leaf extracts in different solvents. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 603, 591–592.
Lisiewska Z., Kmiecik W., 1998. Dependence of dried chive (Allium schoenoprasum) quality upon the drying method and storage period. EJPAU, Food Science and Technology 1, 6. www.ejpau.media.pl
Parvu M., Toiu A., Vlase L., Parvu A.E., 2010. Determination of some polyphenolic compounds from Allium species by HPLC-UV-MS. Nat. Prod. Res. 24(14), 1318–1324.
Raaman N., 2006. Phytochemical techniques. New India Publishing Agency (Delhi), 9–11.
Roberts M., 2000. Edible and medicinal flowers. Spearhed, 20.
Rossi M., Giussani E., Morelli R., Scalzo R., Nani R.C., Torreggiani D., 2003. Effect of fruit blanching on phenolics and radical scavenging activity of highbush blueberry juice. Food Res. Int. 36, 999–1005.
Sady W., 2006. Nawożenie warzyw polowych. Plantpress Sp. z o.o., Kraków.
Sarker S. D., Latif Z., Gray A. I., 2006. Natural products isolation, second edition. Humana Press (New Jersey), 28–37.
Schwimmer S., Weston W.J., 1961. Enzymatic development of pyruvic acid in onion as a measure of pungency. J. Agric. Food Chem. 9, 301–304.
Singleton V.L., Rossi J.A., Jr., 1965. Colorymetry of total phenolics with phosphomolybdicphosphotungstic acid reagents. Am. J. Enol. Viticult. 16, 144–158.
Small E., Deutsch G., 2001. Culinary herbs for short-season gardeners. Ismant Peony Press, Canada, 59–62.
Stajner D., Canadanović-Brunet J., Pavlović A., 2004. Allium schoenoprasum L., as a natural antioxidant. Phytoter. Res. 18 (7), 522–524.
Stajner D., Milić N., Canadanović-Brunet J., Kapor A., Stajner M., Popović B. M., 2006. Exploring Allium species as a source of potential medicinal agents. Phytoter. Res. 20, 581–584.
Tsiaganis M.C., Laskari K., Melissari E., 2006. Fatty acid composition of Allium species lipids. J. Food Comp. Anal. 19, 620–627.
USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, 2010. Energy Content of Selected Foods. Release, 23.
Vaughan J.G., Geissler C.A., 2009. The new Oxford book of food plants. Oxford Press, 188.
Viña S.Z., Cerimele E.L., 2009. Quality changes in fresh chives (Allium schoenoprasum L.) during refrigerated storage. J. Food Quality 31, 747–759.
Wang T., Hicks K. B., Moreau R., 2002. Antioxidant activity of phytosterols, oryzanol, and other phytosterol conjugates. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 79, 1201–1206.
Weber N.D., Andersen D.O., North J.A., Murray B.K., Lawson L.D., Hughes B.G., 1992. In vitro virucidal effects of Allium sativum (Garlic) extract and compounds. Planta Med. 58, 417–423.
Yen G.C., Chen H.Y., 1995. Antioxidant activity of various tea extracts in relation to their antimutagenicity. J. Agric. Food Chem. 43, 27–32.
Yoshida H., Katsuzaki H., Ohta R., Ishikawa K., Fukuda H., Fujino T., Suzuki A., 1999. Anitimicrobial activity of the thiosulfinates isolated from oil-macerated garlic extract. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 63, 591–594.
Yoshida K., Mori M., Kondo T., 2009. Blue flower color development by anthocyanins: from chemical structure to cell physiology. Nat. Prod. Rep. 26, 884–915.
Download

Published
2011-06-30



Monika Grzeszczuk 
West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin
Aneta Wesołowska 
West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin
Dorota Jadczak 
West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin
Barbara Jakubowska 
West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin



License

 

Articles are made available under the conditions CC BY 4.0 (until 2020 under the conditions CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Submission of the paper implies that it has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

The author signs a statement of the originality of the work, the contribution of individuals, and source of funding.

 


Most read articles by the same author(s)