How to cook Yucca spp. flowers? An analysis of their chemical composition, microstructure, and bioactive compound bioaccessibility

Abstract

Yucca flowers are of great importance in traditional Mexican cuisine for their flavor and nutritional properties; however, they are rarely consumed raw. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different cooking methods (stir-frying, boiling, and steaming) on Yucca spp. flowers on their chemical composition (moisture, protein, and glucose-derived carbohydrate content), microstructure, total bioactive compounds (carotenoids: CAR, chlorophyll: CHLO, and phenolic compounds: TPC), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), as well as their bioaccessibility. In general, cooking methods modified the chemical composition of flowers and decreased the concentration of their bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity. However, steaming was the method that best preserved bioactive compounds of the flowers. Stir-frying and boiling improved the bioaccessibility of fat-soluble compounds (CHLO and CAR), but also caused great loss of flower microstructure. The importance of these results lies in finding processing conditions that generate the least impact on the nutritional and bioactive compounds of the flowers, in order to take full advantage of their initial concentrations in the raw flowers. In this sense, steaming the flowers for a short time (3 min) seems to be a viable alternative to preserve their chemical composition and bioactive compounds.

Keywords

• Antioxidant capacity
• Biodigestion
• Carotenoids
• Chlorophyll
• Edible flowers
• Phenolic compounds