Obtaining carrot flour with functional properties

Carrot (Daucus carota) is one of the most widely consumed vegetables in the world, providing important health benefits to consumers due to its high bioactive content. Wounding stress in carrots induces the accumulation of bioactive compounds, transforming this product into a functional ingredient that could be considered an excellent alternative to be processed as flour and used as a nutraceutical ingredient. The objective of this work was to optimize the process of obtaining carrot flour with high antioxidant content. Carrots of the Chantenay variety, obtained from Santiago del Estero-Argentina producers, were washed, disinfected, cut (grated) and stored at 15°C for 48h. The stressed tissue was dehydrated at different temperatures, 70°, 80° and 90ºC, and the optimal temperature was selected based on the moisture content, water activity (aw) and visual sensory characteristics after drying. It was determined that after 4h at 80°C, a product with very good characteristics was obtained, with 7-8% of humidity and aw:0.4;,while at 70°C it took more than 5 h to reach that humidity level, and at 90°C the samples presented a darker and unacceptable appearance. The samples dehydrated at 80°C for 4h were ground in a knife mill and sieved to obtain the flour. The total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant compounds (ACs) of samples before dehydration and the flour were determined by the Folin–Cioucalteu (mg gallic acid/g) and DPPH (%inhibition) methods, respectively, and significant differences were observed between both. The carrot flour obtained had a content of approximately 90% more total phenols and 20% more antioxidant compounds than the carrot stressed before dehydration (13.88 mg gallic acid/g and 58%, respectively). These results indicate that the product obtained could be used as a food ingredient in the formulation of healthy innovative foods.