Flower power: the hidden potential of apple blossoms
A study by a research group in the field of food microbiology at the Micro4Food platform at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano shows that extracts with antifungal and antioxidant effects can be obtained through the fermentation of apple blossoms. A result that could be of interest to the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.
Apple blossoms are not only beautiful and delicate. They also have enormous, as yet undiscovered potential. The two researchers Stefano Tonini and Ali Tlais Alabiden, members of the Micro4Food research group coordinated by Prof. Raffaella Di Cagno at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, have been following in their footsteps. By fermenting the flowers, they succeeded in extracting peptides. These short amino acid chains are produced when proteins are broken down and have antioxidant and antifungal properties that can be used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.
The research project arose from the desire to utilize apple blossoms, a by-product of apple production. Apple blossoms come together in umbels, in which several blossoms spring from a common end point. If all the blossoms were fertilized, the apples would be smaller and of lower quality, which could reduce the productivity of the plant the following year. For this reason, in agronomic practice, thinning, i.e. the removal of blossoms, is practiced in order to promote the development of a central blossom, the so-called "king blossom", for fruit formation. In the apple production chain, only seven percent of the blossoms are brought to maturity, the rest are by-products, so to speak.
The aim of the research group was to use the removed blossoms and enhance them as a source of functional molecules by means of fermentation. Non-fermented flowers were compared with samples that had undergone different types of fermentation. One spontaneous fermentation, in which - similar to the fermentation of sauerkraut - microorganisms already present on the flowers are used, and two controlled fermentations. Fructophilic bacteria and yeasts obtained from apples were used. After fermentation, the researchers obtained an extract from each sample, which they tested for its antifungal and antioxidant properties.
The fermented samples, especially those from the controlled fermentations, were significantly better able to inhibit the growth of fungi and exhibited a markedly higher antioxidant activity than the extract from the non-fermented sample. In addition, a high number of bioactive peptides were detected in the fermented samples. "We were able to identify a total of 1797 new peptides after fermentation: a very high number," explains Stefano Tonini, the head of the study. "These short amino acid chains have never been studied before and need to be characterized in order to understand which of them have an antifungal and antioxidant effect. This result of our research opens up new perspectives and offers new opportunities for the development of innovative applications," says Tonini.
These can be used by the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. In the food sector, the extracts obtained from flowers can be used in combination with other natural compounds of microbial origin to extend the shelf life of some products. The research group already has several projects in this direction. The cosmetics industry, on the other hand, can count on the strong antioxidant and antifungal effects of the peptides contained in the extracts and find a natural and cost-effective alternative for such ingredients in apple blossoms. The high number and variety of peptides produced by the fermentation of the blossoms indicate a complementary effect, which can increase the stability and effectiveness of cosmetic products.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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