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Effect of freezing rate and storage time on quality parameters of strawberry

frozen in modified and home type freezer

Article in Hrvatski časopis za prehrambenu tehnologiju biotehnologiju i nutricionizam · December 2018

DOI: 10.31895/hcptbn.13.3-4.9

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 M. Yanat et al: Croatian Journal of Food Technology, Biotechnology
154 and Nutrition 13 (3-4), 154-158 (2018)

PRELIMINARY COMMUNICATION

Effect of freezing rate and storage time on quality parameters

of strawberry frozen in modified and home type freezer
Murat Yanat*, Taner Baysal

Ege University, Engineering Faculty, Department of Food Engineering, Izmir, Turkey

*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Freezing rate and storage time are the most important parameters in the losses of bioactive compounds of food during the freezing proce-
ss. For this reason, the quality of strawberries which were frozen at different freezing mediums and the effect of storage time on samples were
investigated in this research. The freezer section of the domestic refrigerator was used for slow freezing. Besides that, a modified freezer cabinet
which capable of blowing air at a speed of 1.2 m/s at -30°C designed and produced by Bosch und Siemens Hausgerate GmbH (Çerkezköy,
Turkey) was used for quick freezing. In the quick freezing chamber inside the refrigerator, the samples were provided to be frozen with a higher
freezing speed than the static freezing unit of the refrigerator. Freezing time and freezing rates were determined from the cooling curves obtained
experimentally. Slow and quick frozen samples were stored at −25°C for 4 months. Drip loss, total phenolic content, ascorbic acid content and
total monomeric anthocyanin content of samples were significantly different after freezing and during storage time. It has been determined that
higher freezing rate is essential for the better preservation of bioactive compounds of the strawberries. Freezing should be done at an appropria-
te freezing rate to preserve the cell structure and the nutritional content of strawberries.
Keywords: Drip loss; Freezing; Freezing rate; Frozen Strawberry; Total phenolic content.

Introduction as products whose quality improves when the freezing rate is

increased (3-6 ºC/min). The fourth group is defined by Poul-
Freezing is a simple method of preservation that preser- sen (1977) as “products that are sensitive to too high freezing
ves fruits and vegetables over long periods of time while ma- rates and tend to crack”. Spies (1979) refined this definition as
intaining many of their fresh-like qualities (Prochaska et al., covering “products in which high freezing rates are advanta-
2000). However, freezing does not prevent color and textu- geous for the product quality, but where temperature tensions
re deterioration, off-flavor development in frozen fruits and in the product result in a destruction of the tissue.” For exam-
vegetables because even at sub-zero temperatures enzyme ple, fruits and vegetables such as raspberries, tomatoes, and
systems remain active (Rodriguez-Saona et al., 1995). Free- cucumbers.
zing rate is the most important factor in the freezing process During the freezing storage of fruits and vegetables,
to prevent food tissue damage, loss of bioactive compounds changes occur depending on the storage temperature and the
and drip loss in thawing. storage period of the products. Fruits and vegetables generally
Faster freezing results in small ice crystals and a better- contain bioactive components such as vitamin A and C, pheno-
frozen food quality (Alexandre et al., 2013). During freezing, lics and carotenoids. According to the finding of Chaovanali-
water in the cellular foods is crystallized and converted into kit and Wrolstad (2004), there was 50% loss of total phenolics
ice crystals. Slow freezing normally forms large ice crystals in cherries for 6 months of storage at −23°C.   Gonçalves et
in the extracellular regions of the frozen foods, which may al., (2011) found that the vitamin C content of broccoli signifi-
cause damage to food microstructure, resulting in the color, cantly decreased at storage temperatures of −7, −15 and −25°C
flavor, nutrition and texture modification after thawing, such as after 121 days storage. After 90 days of storage, the decrease
tissue softening, increase in drip loss, tissue browning and so in the ascorbic acid content of frozen strawberry was 64.5, 10.7
on (Sun, 2016). and 8.9% at −12, −18 and −24 °C, respectively (Sahari et al.,
Foods may be classified into four groups (Poulsen, 1977) 2004).
according to their sensitivity regarding freezing rate. Products The aim of the present study were to compare the effects
with a high content of dry matter such as peas, high-fat content of different freezing rate and storage time on some quality pa-
such as meats, and some ready meals practically unaffected by rameters of strawberry samples.
changes in freezing rate. Fish, lean meat, and starch- and flour-
thickened ready meals are in the second group where products
require a minimum freezing rate (0.5 ºC/min), but relatively
unaffected by higher freezing rates. Egg products, many fruits,
and vegetables such as strawberry and green bean are classified

CROATIAN JOURNAL OF FOOD TECHNOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND NUTRITION

 M. Yanat et al: Croatian Journal of Food Technology, Biotechnology
and Nutrition 13 (3-4), 154-158 (2018) 155

Materials and methods purified water and 9 ml of dye solution. Concentration was de-
termined from the standard graph against the absorbance value
Materials of the sample and the amount of ascorbic acid in 100 ml was
Samples of strawberry were obtained from a local market calculated. The amount of ascorbic acid in the samples was
in Izmir region of Turkey. To prepare samples for freezing, they calculated as mg/100 g fresh weight.
were initially washed in the cold water of 5 °C and allowed to
stand for 15 minutes in ambient conditions to remove the moi- Determination of total monomeric anthocyanin content
sture on the surface. Therefore, only medium-sized strawberri- Total monomeric anthocyanin content was determined
es which have 3.2 cm length from top to bottom, with clear by the pH-differential method (Giusti & Wrolstad, 2001). The
red colour, and the suitable degree of ripeness and lack of any samples were diluted in two buffers; 0.025 M potassium chlo-
apparent damage were selected. ride (pH 1) and 0.4 M sodium acetate (pH 4.5). After 30 min
at 20–22 °C, absorbance at 520 and 700 nm was measured
Measurement of the sample temperature and frozen (Varian Cary 50 spectrophotometer, Scan). The concentration
storage of total monomeric anthocyanin in the samples was calculated
Slow freezing was achieved in home type freezer at as mg cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalents per 1kg of dry weight
approximately -18°C for 12 hours without air blown. Modi- (mg/1 kg dw).
fied freezer cabinet which designed and produced by Bosch
und Siemens Hausgerate GmbH (Çerkezköy, Turkey) was used Statistical analysis
for quick freezing. This unit situated in the freezer section of Results were statistically analyzed by analysis of variance
home type refrigerator. It capable of blowing air at a speed of (ANOVA) using the software SPSS 18 (SPSS Inc., Chicago,
1.2 m/s at -30°C. This cabin had internal lengths of 18x14x24 III, USA) with the Duncan test to evaluate differences between
centimeters. In all freezing processes, a 10x5x22 cm sized, treatments at levels of significance P < 0.05.
perforated stainless steel container was used. In each freezing
process, approximately 400 grams of strawberries were placed
in the container. During the entire freezing process, temperatu- Results and discussion
re changes occurring in the products and in the freezing envi-
ronment were monitored by means of T-type thermocouples Freezing curves and freezing rates
which were fixed to the center points of the individual samples. Cooling curves of samples were shown in Figure 1. Su-
Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) bags (24 cm x 28 cm) were percooling was detected for both samples as cooling down to
used for packaging of frozen strawberries. Samples were sto- a temperature below the freezing point of the sample without
red in a domestic freezer at −25 °C for 120 days. formation of ice. When crystal embryos exceed the critical ra-
dius for nucleation, systems nucleates at a point lower than
Determination of drip loss freezing point. Then, the temperature increased to the freezing
Frozen strawberry samples were thawed at + 4 °C for point of samples. The solid content of the fruits and vegetables
12 hours. The drip loss (dloss, %) was calculated from equati- have the effect on freezing point. Haiying et al., (2007) showed
on (1) (Xie & Zhao, 2014). that the existence of many solid particles caused smaller de-
grees of supercooling in the vegetables. Freezing rates were
calculated as cm/h. The equivalent radius of samples was de-
termined as 1.58 cm according to the method of Kaya, (2011).
(1) Freezing rates from +4 °C to -15 °C were calculated as 0.32
Where, m1 is the mass of the frozen strawberries and m2 is cm/h for home type freezer and 1.50 cm/h for the modified
the mass of the strawberries after thawing. quick freezer which are considered slow freezing and quick
Determination of total phenolic content freezing, respectively.
The total phenolic contents were measured using the
Folin–Ciocalteu method (Franke et al., 2004) and expressed
as mg gallic acid/kg. 5 ml of folin (10%, v / v) and 15 ml of
NaHCO3 (20% w/v) are added to 1 g of pureed and filtered
sample. After completing 100 ml, the mixture is filtered and
after 2 hours in the dark. Absorbance values were recorded at
760 nm and calculated by taking the concentration-dependent
dilutions corresponding to the absorbance from the standard
plot. The amount of total phenolic content in the samples was
calculated as mg gallic acid equivalents per 1kg of dry weight
(mg/1 kg dw).
Figure 1. Freezing curves of strawberry samples
Determination of ascorbic acid
The ascorbic acid analysis was performed as applied in Drip loss
the method of Kırca et al. (2007). 10 ml of pureed sample and The effect of the different freezing rates and storage time
90 ml of stabilizer solution were mixed with stirring. In 2 sepa- on the drip loss of strawberries after freezing/thawing cycle is
rate test tubes, 1 ml of filtered sample was mixed with 9 ml of shown in Figure 2. The data showed a significantly lower wa-

CROATIAN JOURNAL OF FOOD TECHNOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND NUTRITION

 M. Yanat et al: Croatian Journal of Food Technology, Biotechnology
156 and Nutrition 13 (3-4), 154-158 (2018)

ter loss for quickly frozen strawberries when compared to the Composition Database (2014). The ascorbic acid contents
slowly frozen strawberries during thawing (P<0.05). In quick of the samples were 56.91, 53.73, 47.47 mg / 100g for slow
frozen strawberry samples, the water removal after thawing is frozen strawberry samples and 63.11, 63.77, 57.94 mg / 100g
less, indicating that the cell structure of the strawberries was for quick frozen strawberry samples after freezing and during
preserved better and that less water released out of the cell, as the storage, respectively. The difference between the frozen
the freezing rate increases. In a study similar to this, drip loss strawberry samples at two different freezing rates was found
in frozen strawberry samples was found between 12.75% and to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). Vitamin C can be ea-
22.54% (Çetin & Fidan, 1984). Therefore, evident increases sily affected by external factors such as temperature, humidity,
have observed in the drip loss values of the strawberries after and light (Favell, 1998). The differences between the ascorbic
120 days in storage. Previous studies have also found that lo- acid contents are thought to be influenced by the difference
sses after thawing of frozen strawberries were affected by free- in freezing mediums and freezing rates cause different tensile
zing rate, cold storage time and storage temperature (Pukszta forces on strawberry cells. Therefore, ascorbic acid molecules
& Palich, 2007). are separated from the structure along with the water which se-
parates from the strawberry samples during the thawing proce-
ss. Since more water is separated from slowly frozen samples,
loss of ascorbic acid is to be high. After 120 days of storage
at -25°C, the decrease in the ascorbic acid content of frozen
strawberries were found 16.58% for slow frozen strawberries
and 8.19% for quick frozen strawberries. These results are si-
milar to the findings of Sahari et al. (2004).

Figure 2. Drip loss values of strawberries

Total phenolic content

As shown in Figure 3, the effect of freezing rate on phe-
nolic contents of strawberry samples was found statistically
significant (P<0.05) after freezing process and during storage
time. Strawberry which is rich in bioactive phenolic substan-
ces such as hydroxycinnamic acid, elagic acid, flavanones, and
anthocyanins has high antioxidant activity (Määttä-Riihinen et Figure 4. Ascorbic acid content (mg/100g) of strawberries
al. , 2004). However, these phenolic compounds are very un-
stable and undergo destruction during fruits transformation in Total monomeric anthocyanins
frozen products especially in the thawing process by native and The difference between the amounts of total monomeric
microbiological enzymes (Garrote & Bertone, 1989). During anthocyanins between the samples was found to be significant
the quick freezing process, the loss of phenolic compounds (P<0.05). The content of monomeric anthocyanin in slowly
between cells and tissues is lower because cells lose less water frozen strawberry samples was lower than that of the quickly
and cell structure is less damaged during freezing. In addition, frozen sample group. The rate of freezing and the type of free-
during the thawing process, the loss of phenolic compounds zing technique may also influence the stability of anthocyanins
increases with the water moving away from the slow-frozen in fruits. Freezing induces the formation of ice crystals, which
samples. favors localized concentrations of solutes such as anthocya-
nins, as well as the reallocation of water molecules in the cell
structure. Studies showed that different freezing and thawing
procedures have the influence on anthocyanin retention in fru-
its (Poiana et al., 2010; Holzwarth et al., 2012). In addition,
there was a significant reduction in the two sample groups in
the total monomeric anthocyanin content at after 4 months in
storage. Several studies show a decreasing trend in total fruit
anthocyanins during frozen storage in strawberries (Ngo et al.,
2007; Garcia-Viguera et al., 1999).

Figure 3. Total phenolic matter content (mg/kg dry basis) of

strawberries

Ascorbic acid content

Strawberries have a relatively high content of vitamin C,
which is around 65–84 mg/ 100 g according to Turkish Food

CROATIAN JOURNAL OF FOOD TECHNOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY AND NUTRITION

 M. Yanat et al: Croatian Journal of Food Technology, Biotechnology
and Nutrition 13 (3-4), 154-158 (2018) 157

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