Today, one of the most important challenges of ensuring the society's health is the prevention of civilization diseases. Most of them are associated with an imbalance between antioxidants and free radicals in the human body. Due to the need to increase the intake of antioxidants, opportunities are being studied to increase their consumption. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of plant extracts of marigold (Tagetes erecta spp.) (MEx) and perilla (Perilla frutescens L.) (PEx) on selected qualitative properties of muffins. We studied the effects of the extracts in amounts of 1% (1), 3% (3), and 5% (5) on selected muffin characteristics, i.e., crust and crumb color, cooking yield, specific volume, and water activity, and changes in textural properties as well as sensory acceptance analysis. The level of crust lightness (L*) of muffins was lower than that of the control sample only for the samples with the PEx. For the crumb, the muffins with MEx and PEx were darker than the control sample. Fortification of muffins resulted in a concentration-dependent increase in antioxidant capacity. The PEx_3 and PEx_5 samples were rated highest in the sensory acceptance evaluation. The other quality attributes were similar to the control sample, indicating the validity of introducing extracts in the muffin recipe.
Keywords: antioxidant capacity; color; muffins; plant extracts; texture.