The fresh-cut artichoke: now you can!

The low artichoke susceptibility to browning after cutting is a prerequisite for the fresh-cut industry. The selection of cultivars of artichoke with particular physical and chemical traits, which make them suitable for cold storage and processing as fresh-cut, has been the aim of the paper published in the Food Research International (2012, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2012.04.012).

The study, conducted by researchers of the Institute of Sciences of Food Production (ISPA) CNR of Bari, compared five hybrid cultivars of artichoke (Opal, Concerto, Harmony, Symphony, Romolo) and Violet de Provence. The objective of this research was to evaluate the suitability for cold storage of artichoke heads, following the major changes in their physical (browning index), physiological (respiratory activity) and biochemical (antioxidant activity, total phenol content, polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase) traits at temperature 1 ° C for 12 days.

Furthermore, in order to select the most suitable cultivars for the storage and processing, the correlation among antioxidant activity, total phenols and enzymatic activities has been evaluated. Among the cultivars analyzed, Romolo resulted the most suitable for storage since it presented a low browning index(-25%), low respiratory activity, low content in total phenols and enzymatic activities.

Romolo artichokes.

The research has allowed to identify the cultivar Romolo as particularly suitable both for storage and for the transformation as fresh-cut. Future research of the post-harvest group of ISPA-CNR, will be oriented to the realization of the fresh-cut artichoke processing the cultivar Romolo.

Further info:
Dr Angela Cardinali
ISPA-CNR
Via G. Amendola 122/O
70126 Bari - Italy
Phone: +39 080 5929303
Email: angela.cardinali@ispa.cnr.it