The beneficial effect of peppermint (Mentha X Piperita L.) and lemongrass (Melissa officinalis L.) dosage on total antioxidant and polyphenol content during alcoholic fermentation

Rita Székelyhidi; Erika Lakatos; Beatrix Sik; Ágnes Nagy; Laura Varga; Zoltán Molnár; Viktória Kapcsándi

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2022.100226

The beneficial effect of peppermint (Mentha X Piperita L.) and lemongrass (Melissa officinalis L.) dosage on total antioxidant and polyphenol content during alcoholic fermentation

Food Chem X. 2022 Jan 23:13:100226. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2022.100226. eCollection 2022 Mar 30.

Authors

Rita Székelyhidi¹, Erika Lakatos¹, Beatrix Sik¹, Ágnes Nagy¹, Laura Varga¹, Zoltán Molnár², Viktória Kapcsándi¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Széchenyi István University, Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary.
² Department of Plant Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Széchenyi István University, Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary.

Abstract

Our research aimed to create an herbal fermented alcoholic beverage with high antioxidant and polyphenol content. In this study, continuous sampling was performed throughout the fermentation period, and the changes in total antioxidant (TA) and total polyphenol (TP) contents were determined. After processing the raw material, the prepared herbs were added in 0.5 and 1.0 v/v% concentrations to the samples. The TP content of the control sample was between 1.17 and 1.57 mg/g, and the TA content was 2.12 and 2.54 mg/g during the fermentation process. The lemongrass dosage increased 77.86 % the antioxidant and 70.98 % the polyphenol content by the end of the fermentation process. In the best case, the peppermint dosage increased 72.80 % of the antioxidant content and 72.05 % of the polyphenol content. Overall, fermentation combined with herbs dosage could increase the bioavailability of products made from its polyphenol and antioxidant contents and can be used to develop novel functional foods.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Antioxidant activity assessed as ferric ion reducing power by FRAP method (PubChem CID: 690597); Apple mash; Ethyl alcohol (PubChem CID: 702); FRAP; Folin–Ciocalteu; Herbs; Polyphenol.