Studying the properties of mucilage plant extract of some wild plants and using it as additives to improve the properties of some food products

Mucilage is an watery colloidal compound rich in antioxidants, with important technological functional properties. It occurs naturally in the plant life cycle. It has Various uses in the pharmaceutical and food industries. This research was carried out during the period between 2020-2023 within the framework of joint cooperation between the General Authority for Scientific Agricultural Research and Tishreen University. The research was divided into a several themes, where the mucilage was extracted from two plants belonging to the Malvaceae family, Althaea rosea and Malva parviflora, by applying six treatments for extraction and studying the effect of these treatments on each of the sensory properties, yield, chemical composition, physicochemical and functional properties of the resulting powders, and the data were analyzed statistically at the level 1% of significance. The most important defining properties of colloidal applications, including flow indicators, emulsifying ability, emulsion stability, foaming ability and stability, were studied. The effect of a several of factors (concentration - temperature - pH) on the viscosity of colloidal extract solutions was also studied. A number of chemical experiments were also carried out to reveal the presence or absence of a chemical similarity between the studied mucilage extract and pectin. In addition to studying the antioxidant capacity, phenolic content, and positive and negative antimicrobial ability by identifying four microbial genera (Streptococcus sp- E.coli - Klebsiella sp-Staphylococcus sp). HPLC was used to detect the qualitative and quantitative composition of the monosaccharides and Uronic acids constituting the colloidal powder. The functional groups constituting the powder were detected using INFRARED-IR, in addition to detecting the most important compounds present in the colloidal powder using GC-MS Chromatography. The mucilage powder was used as an improver for the texture of sponge cake with an addition ratio of (0.1 - 0.25 - 0.50 - 0.75 – 1 )% and compared with the commercial powder used as an improver for the texture of sponge cake. The results of the study showed that the highest gluey yield of Althaea and malva was when applying the treatment (40C˚ + isopropanol), reaching 25.82% and 9.9%, respectively. The mucilage powders had low moisture, and their content of carbohydrates, fiber, ash. protein reached 68.16, 10.55, 14.92, and 4.67%, respectively for MAR, and 72.21, 9.21, 13.11, and 4.68% for MMP. The mucilage powders were characterized by a moderate pH, slightly acidic, and a good swelling coefficient, reaching 4.52 for MAR and 3.67 for MMP. The emulsifying ability reached 40.51% for MAR and 52.34% for MMP .The mucilage powders of Althaea and malva were low in methoxyl content of 1.53% and 1.27%, respectively, and with a low esterification rate of 11.7% and 10.2%, compared to commercial pectin with a methoxyl number of 6.83% and an esterification rate of 65%.It was found that the mucilage powders had a high content of Uronic acids, reaching 43.2% and 55.2% for Althaea and malva powder, respectively. Both type of powders contained functional clique of carboxylic acids, hydroxyl, carbonyl, methyl, aldehyde, esters, amides, and glycosidic bonds. Both type of powders contained specific compounds with therapeutic and nutritional properties, including Thiirane-methyl in Althaea powder and Stigma sterol in malva powder. The addition of colloidal powders as an improver to the texture of sponge cake improved the physical, chemical and nutritional properties of the cake, up to the addition of 0.5%. The results of this study indicate to the medical, nutritional and technological importance of the mucilage powder obtained from Althaea rosea and malva parviflora plants, which can be relied upon to include a new additive in the list of food additives and pharmaceutical binders.