Physical, chemical, sorption and microbiological characteristics of fennel fruits
Mariya Dushkova,
Milen Dimov,
Lazar Lazarov,
Martina Pencheva,
Iliana Kostova,
Stanka Damyanova,
Nikolay Menkov,
Albena Stoyanova,
Sezai Ercisli,
Amine Assouguem,
Romina Alina Marc,
Duygu Ayvaz Sonmez,
Riaz Ullah,
Ahmed Bari
Affiliations
Mariya Dushkova
Department of Process Engineering, University of Food Technologies, 4002, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Milen Dimov
Department Food Technology, Trakia University, 8600, Yambol, Bulgaria
Lazar Lazarov
Department of Tobacco, Sugar, Vegetable and Essential Oils, University of Food Technologies, 4002, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Martina Pencheva
Branch-Razgrad, Razgrad, University of Russe “Angel Kanchev”, Bulgaria
Iliana Kostova
Branch-Razgrad, Razgrad, University of Russe “Angel Kanchev”, Bulgaria
Stanka Damyanova
Branch-Razgrad, Razgrad, University of Russe “Angel Kanchev”, Bulgaria
Nikolay Menkov
Department of Process Engineering, University of Food Technologies, 4002, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Albena Stoyanova
Department of Tobacco, Sugar, Vegetable and Essential Oils, University of Food Technologies, 4002, Plovdiv, Bulgaria; Corresponding author.
Sezai Ercisli
Department of Horticulture, Atatürk University, Erzurum, 25240, Turkey; HGF Agro, Ata Teknokent, TR-25240, Erzurum, Turkey
Amine Assouguem
Laboratory of Functional Ecology and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Imouzzer Street, Fez P.O. Box 2202, Morocco
Romina Alina Marc
Food Engineering Department, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Technological Transfer Center “CTT-BioTech”, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Calea Floreşti Street, No. 64, 400509, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Fennel (Foeniculum officinale Mill. var. dulce Mill) is an annual aromatic plant of the Lamiaceae family. Its fruits are processed to obtain essential oil for use in the food industry and cosmetics. The physical parameters of the fruits, i.e. length (5.50–8.00 mm), width (1.50–2.00 mm), volume of 100 fruits (1.36 × 10−6 m3), density of 100 fruits (935.82 kg/m3), average volume of one fruit (1.36 × 10−8 m3), average equivalent diameter of one fruit (2.96 mm), angle of repose, stainless steel (from 16 to 22°), angle of repose, black steel (from 19 to 28°), angle of repose, plywood (from 18 to 24°), and their chemical parameters, i.e. moisture (13.49%), ash (6.49%), protein (18.25%), essential oil (8.38%), vegetable oil (10.52%), and total carbohydrates (51.04%) were determined for the fruits. The adsorption and desorption isotherms of the fennel fruits were obtained using the static gravimetric method at two temperatures, 20 and 40 °C. The Halsey model provided a good description of the sorption isotherms, which were of type II according to Brunauer's classification. The increase in the temperature led to a significant decrease in the monolayer moisture. The contamination on the fruit surface at three relative humidities (0.43, 0.59, and 0.76) at 20 °C was determined.
