[Rocket salad leaves: effect of CA storage on quality [Eruca sativa (L.) Mill.; Diplotaxis tenuifolia (L.) DC.; controlled atmosphere]]
2006
Cornacchia, R. | Rinaldi, R. | Quinto, M. | Colelli, G.
The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of controlled atmosphere (CA) on quality parameters of two different species of rocket salad. Fresh rocket salad leaves (Eruca saliva and Diplotaxis tenuifolia) were stored in air and in CA (3% O2 + 15% CO2) for 14 days at 5 deg C. In E. sativa, storage in CA influenced firmness and weight loss. Firmness decreased during storage and in samples kept in CA was about 40% higher than in samples stored in air. Weight loss was almost 5% in leaves held in air, while resulted only 3% in leaves held in low O2 and high CO2. Initial colour parameters were well retained for both treatments, with L* and b* values not showing much changes during storage. L* value increased at the end of experiment, more for samples in air than in CA, probably due to more severe yellowing of leaves. In D. tenuifolia, no difference in quality attributes due to storage conditions were observed, except in weight loss, that was higher in samples stored in CA than in samples stored in air. Volatile fraction was determined for E. sativa. In both storage conditions leaves lost initial volatile compounds. In samples held in air the content of most molecules decreased in the first two days, while the change of volatile fraction for samples in CA was more gradual. After 10 days of storage, all samples showed the same volatile composition, indicating no influence of treatment with low O2 and high CO2 after a long term storage
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