Munyaka, A. W.Oey, I.Verlinde, P.Loey, A. V.Hendrickx, M.2014-08-012014-08-012009-12-01Food Chemistry Volume 117, Issue 3, 1 December 2009, Pages 568–5750308-8146http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/10823DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.04.036The influence of different treatments, i.e., crushing, high temperature short time (90 °C/4 min) (HTST) and low temperature long time (60 °C/40 min) (LTLT) blanching, acidification (pH 4.3), and sequences of these treatments on the folate poly-γ-glutamate profile and stability were investigated. In this study, broccoli was used as a case study. Regarding the folate poly-γ-glutamate profile, endogenous folate poly-γ-glutamates in broccoli florets were found predominantly as hepta- and hexa-γ-glutamates. Crushing raw broccoli, acidification and LTLT blanching enhanced folate deconjugation resulting in monoglutamate, di- and tri-γ-glutamates. Compared to other treatments, HTST blanching preformed prior to crushing resulted in the highest concentration of long chain poly-γ-glutamates. Regarding folate poly-γ-glutamates stability, acidification combined with LTLT blanching decreased folate stability whereas HTST blanching combined with different sequences of blanching and crushing did not affect folate poly-γ-glutamates stability. It was concluded that crushing (prior to heating), acidification and blanching could be strategically applied to increase the folate monoglutamate content of broccoli.enAcidificationBlanchingBroccoliFolatesCrushingPoly-γ-glutamatesArticle