Reinforced Food Quality and Functionality of Salicornia europaea by Desalination

Salicornia europaea (SE) has recently emerged as a food material and physiologically effective halophyte cultivated by using sea water irrigation without any fertilizers or pesticides. However, SE powder has limited usability in processed and functional foods due to its high salt content (35~40%). The purpose of this study was to increase the utilization of SE powder as a functional food material by removing only sodium salt (NaCl) from SE without loss of useful minerals such as potassium, calcium, and iron, nutrients such as carbohydrates and proteins, and useful physiologically active substances such as chlorophylls, polyphenols, and flavonoids. This research resulted in the development of a desalination method based on differences in water solubility of salts with changes in temperature. Considering the color value and solubility of sodium salt in water, freeze drying method was suitable for desalting of SE. When SE powder was extracted with stirring in cold water at low temperature (4℃), as compared with room-temperature water and hot water, useful minerals excluding sodium salt and organic soluble components were eluted at remarkably low levels while there was no large difference in the elution degree of sodium salt. The sodium content of SE powder (14.71%) decreased to 0.36% after three desalting procedures. As the number of desalting procedures increase, a* value of color gradually decreased while the ratio of Brix and salinity also gradually decreased. In addition, compared with before desalination, desalted powder remarkably increased the contents of dietary fiber as well as polyphenols, flavonoids, and chlorophylls. Moreover, compared with before desalination desalted SE powder, remarkably improved anti-oxidant, anti-hypertensive, and anti-diabetic activities. Thus, functionally reinforced desalted SE is suggested as a functional and processed food materials.