Bitter Is Better: Wild Greens Used in the Blue Zone of Ikaria, Greece.

The current study reports an ethnobotanical field investigation of traditionally gathered and consumed wild greens (Chorta) in one of the five so-called Blue Zones in the world: Ikaria Isle, Greece. Through 31 semi-structured interviews, a total of 56 wild green plants were documented along with their culinary uses, linguistic labels, and locally perceived tastes. Most of the gathered greens were described as bitter and associated with members of Asteraceae and Brassicaceae botanical families (31%), while among the top-quoted wild greens, species belonging to these two plant families accounted for 50% of the wild vegetables, which were consumed mostly cooked. Cross-cultural comparison with foraging in other areas of the central-eastern Mediterranean and the Near East demonstrated a remarkable overlapping of Ikarian greens with Cretan and Sicilian, as well as in the prevalence of bitter-tasting botanical genera. Important differences with other wild greens-related food heritage were found, most notably with the Armenian and Kurdish ones, which do not commonly feature many bitter greens. The proven role of extra-oral bitter taste receptors in the modulation of gastric emptying, glucose absorption and crosstalk with microbiota opens new ways of looking at these differences, in particular with regard to possible health implications. The present study is also an important attempt to preserve and document the bio-cultural gastronomic heritage of Chorta as a quintessential part of the Mediterranean diet. The study recommends that nutritionists, food scientists, and historians, as well as policymakers and practitioners, pay the required attention to traditional rural dietary systems as models of sustainable health.

Nutritional, antioxidant and sensory properties of functional beef burgers formulated with chia seeds and goji puree, before and after in vitro digestion.

The addition of chia seeds and goji puree (2.5 and/or 5%) was evaluated in terms of their effects on the fatty acid profile, lipid peroxidation, total phenols and antioxidant capacity of cooked beef burgers. In comparison to control burgers, polyunsaturated fatty acids doubled or tripled in samples containing chia seeds; polyphenols and antioxidant capacities (ORAC, ABTS, DPPH) increased up to 70% and malondialdehyde values were reduced up to 50% in burgers formulated with both ingredients. Polyphenols, antioxidant capacity and lipid peroxidation were also assessed after in vitro digestion. A marked increase of polyphenol bioaccessibility and antioxidant capacity was observed for all samples, but also malondialdehyde values were increased after digestion, especially in samples containing 5% chia seeds. Finally, hedonistic tests were conducted on young (18-30 years), adult (31-60 years) and elderly (>60 years) subjects and the burgers resulted acceptable by all groups, appointing to their potential application as functional burgers.

Development of Perilla seed oil and extra virgin olive oil blends for nutritional, oxidative stability and consumer acceptance improvements.

This study reports the blending at different levels (25, 30, 35, 40 and 45%) of Perilla seed oil (PO) with extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Pure oils and blends were evaluated in terms of free acidity, peroxide value, fatty acid composition, sterols, tocopherols and biophenols content, oxidation stability, sensory acceptability and food pairing. Blends with high content of ω - 3 and ω - 6 fatty acids, biophenols, tocopherols, sterols and satisfying oxidation stability were obtained, representing products with improved nutritional properties. All blends resulted acceptable by consumers. Two groups of consumers with opposite preferences for samples with low (25-35%) and high (40-45%) levels of PO were identified. Blends containing 40-45% of PO were mainly paired to strong-flavour and cooked foods, while blends with less PO were preferably matched with raw meat and vegetables. Consequently, PO and EVOO blends showed promising potential as innovative vegetable oils with improved nutritional properties and versatile gastronomic use.