Reducing effect of dressings on bitterness, astringency, and grassy of vegetable

<p>[Purpose]</p><p>In our country, consuming 350 g vegetables per day is recommended for health promotion, but people do not consume vegetables in adequate amounts.The development of dressing, which reduces bitterness, astringency, and grassy of vegetables, is considered useful for health promotion.We have previously reported that mayonnaise contributes to reducing the bitter taste in vegetables.Therefore, in this study we studied the effects of dressings, containing the same raw materials as mayonnaise, on bitter taste, astringency, and grassy of vegetables, as well as clarified the mechanism of their action.</p><p>[Methods]</p><p>The vegetables included were those that are eaten in salads, such as lettuce, tomato, cabbage, and broccoli.Water was added to each vegetable, crushed with a food processor, and filtered.The dressing was added to the filtrate, and bitterness and astringency were evaluated by the taste sensor system. Grassy was evaluated using the solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method.</p><p>Also, the difference between the presence and absence of the dressing was evaluated on bitterness, astringency, and grassy of target vegetables from sensory evaluation.Next, for lettuce in which remarkable effect was recognized following sensory evaluation, egg yolk, food oil, vinegar, carrot puree, which are the raw materials for dressing, were added to the filtrate, and bitterness, astringency, and grassy were evaluated using the instrument.</p><p>[Results]</p><p>Results of instrumental analysis revealed that the bitter taste was reduced by adding dressing to each vegetable.Astringency was reduced in vegetables other than broccoli, and the component influencing the grassy of each vegetable decreased.For sensory evaluation, bitterness, astringency, and grassy were reduced by adding the dressing, and the most effective was observed in lettuce.A reducing effect was recognized after the addition of each raw material, especially the bitter taste as seen in vinegar. The effect of egg yolk and vinegar was significantly influential for reducing grassy.These results suggest that the developed dressings effectively reduce bitterness, astringency, and grassy, and the effects are derived from vinegar and egg yolk.</p>