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Effect of drying methods on the nutritional and phytochemical properties of pumpkin flower (Cucurbita maxima) and its characterization

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Abstract

Flowers have long been used culturally for their aesthetical and aromatic properties but now a day edible flowers are gaining importance because of their bioactive potential. Additionally, flowers are the most accessible, least expensive source from plants, and in the case of pumpkin, the male flower’s function is limited to pollination only. Therefore, this study is aimed to assess a suitable method (tray, shade, microwave, and sun drying) of drying for pumpkin flowers depending on the effect of each drying technique on the nutritional, phytochemical, and antioxidant activity. The best-suited drying method for pumpkin flowers was characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), zeta potential and size distribution parameters. The values for ash content (14.7 ± 0.28%), protein (3.58 ± 0.01%), and energy (357.33 ± 1.42 Cal/g) were found to be higher for shade-dried samples. All the drying techniques have affected the phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity of pumpkin flowers but the tray-dried and shade-dried techniques have retained most of the antioxidants namely total phenolic content, total flavonoid, carotenoid, and their activity (FRAP, ABTS, and FRSA). The shade dried sample among all the dried samples was concluded to be the suitably dried sample and has been identified to have amorphous nature (2θ = 22.85°), good solubility, and particle size 878.8 nm distribution in its suspension, particle's surface potential i.e. − 19.0 mV, (Tonset) = 33.68 °C, end temperature (Tendset) = 85.36 °C, denaturation peak temperature (Tpeak) = 58.84 °C and ∆H = 86.7148 J/g indicating good thermal stability. The obtained results indicate that pumpkin flower powder could be a potential source for the development of functional and value-added food products.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India for providing facilities to characterize the samples for particle size, FTIR, DSC, and XRD analysis of pumpkin flower powder through the Central Instrumentation facility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Technology and Nutrition, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, 144411, India

    Arya Gargi, Jyoti Singh, Prasad Rasane, Sawinder Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Mukul Kumar, D. Sowdhanya & Mahendra Gunjal

  2. Seed Science and Technology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa Campus, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Ravish Choudhary

  3. Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Ataturk University, 25240, Erzurum, Turkey

    Sezai Ercisli

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  1. Arya Gargi
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Gargi, A., Singh, J., Rasane, P. et al. Effect of drying methods on the nutritional and phytochemical properties of pumpkin flower (Cucurbita maxima) and its characterization. Food Measure 17, 5330–5343 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-023-02026-z

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