Capabilities of wild plant Salicornia europaea application in food technologies

Global food security concerns are driving the search for new sustainable food sources and spurring interest in the use of edible wild plant materials. The latter include Salicornia as a source of salt and nutrients such as dietary fibres, polyphenols, flavonoids, and minerals, including selenium, magnesium, sodium, chlorine, manganese, chromium, iron, copper, potassium, calcium, and others. These nutrients determine the valuable functional and technological properties and organoleptic characteristics of finished products. Important for creating new foods with Salicornia are emulsifying properties, improving texture, salty taste, colour formation, and increasing yeast efficiency. The subject of the study was the development of a dietary supplement “Solevit Mg” from the wild plant Salicornia. The aerial parts of the plant of the species Salicornia europaea L., collected in the south of the Kherson region, Ukraine, in August-October 2020 were taken as samples for the study. Convective drying was used because the technological features of this process make it possible to preserve the properties of the original product. The drying kinetics of this plant in various modes was studied, which made it possible to optimize the parameters of the production process of a dietary supplement in the form of a powder. The results of the proximate composition were as follows: protein 22.10%, fat 2.65%, carbohydrates 31.5%. Chemical analysis confirmed the content of minerals and vitamins in the dietary supplement. The use of the additive by partial replacement of salt in the technologies of wheat bread and cheese snacks were evaluated.