Impact of solar cooking on traditional one-pot meals

Description

One-pot meals are recipes cooked in closed cooking pots, like bean stew and vegetable soups. These one-pot meals were selected for their potential for a sustainable diet and health benefits.
Different recipes will be selected and tested under the cooking conditions selected in a previous task.The soups composition will vary on water content, the number of vegetable types, and the proportion of different vegetables. Preference will be given to those considered functional foods, such as Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. ssp. Italica), for being nutritious and rich in minerals, vitamins and bioactive compounds (such as phenolics, carotenoids and glucosinolates), all having antioxidant capacity.
The physico-chemical quality will be assessed on initial and final products and will include the following parameters: total antioxidant activity (spectrophotometric methods, with the ABTS (Oliveira et al.,2015) and DPPH (Brand-Williams et al.,1995)), total phenolic compounds (Folin–Ciocalteu reagent (Singleton and Rossi,1965)), carotenoids and chlorophylls, water activity, colour and texture. Microbial and enzymatic quality will also be evaluated, particularly for the slower cookers under less favourable conditions, to identify cooking conditions that should be avoided or not utilized to warrant food safety.

Period	3 Apr 2023 → 18 Aug 2023
Degree of Recognition	Master