Introduction

Moringa oleifera (Lam.) is a nutritious plant species that has the potential to alleviate food insecurity in low- and middle-income regions. However, the bitter taste associated with M. oleifera leaves is a key barrier to its acceptance as food. It was hypothesized that reducing the bitterness in M. oleifera-fortified instant soups would increase their acceptance.

Methods

Acid soaking and the addition of a sweetener (aspartame) were examined for their effectiveness in the removal of bitter taste in M. oleifera leaves. Fifty assessors rated the acceptance and perceived bitterness in a randomized complete block sensory evaluation. South Indian instant soup samples with 0%, 50% and 100% replacement of vegetable powder with M. oleifera leaf powder were evaluated.

Results

Acceptance for M. oleifera-fortified instant soups was higher for samples with lower perceived bitterness. Addition of sweetener was found to be effective in increasing the acceptability and reducing the perceived bitterness at the 50% replacement level, but not at the 100% replacement level. Perceived bitterness did not decrease in formulations with acid-soaked M. oleifera leaves.

Conclusions

Undesirable organoleptic properties need to be masked or removed for the acceptance of M. oleifera leaves as a regular food. We recommend that foods fortified with M. oleifera to include a sweet excipient to reduce the bitter tastes.

Implications

Fortified instant soup samples with reduced perceived bitterness had increased acceptability. Debittered M. oleifera-fortified foods would appeal to consumers, which would increase their consumption and could lead to reduced prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies.

中文翻译：

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苦味辣木叶子（强化）在强化南印度即食汤

介绍

辣木（林木）是一种营养植物，具有缓解中低收入地区粮食不安全的潜力。然而，与油茶树叶相关的苦味是其被接受为食物的主要障碍。据推测，降低了苦味辣木-fortified速溶汤会增加他们的接受。

方法

检查了酸浸泡和添加甜味剂（阿斯巴甜）在去除油橄榄枝叶苦味中的功效。五十名评估者在随机完整的区块感官评估中对接受度和感知到的苦味进行了评估。评估了南印度速溶汤样品，其中用菜豆叶粉替代了0％，50％和100％的蔬菜粉。

结果

验收辣木-fortified速溶汤是用较低的感知苦味样品更高。发现添加甜味剂在50％替代水平下有效地增加了可接受性并降低了感觉到的苦味，但是在100％替代水平下则无效。用酸浸泡的油橄榄叶制成的配方中感知到的苦味并未降低。

结论

需要掩盖或去除不良的感官特性，以使油橄榄叶作为常规食品被接受。我们建议在油茶中添加的食品应加入甜味的赋形剂，以减少苦味。

含义

降低苦味的强化速溶汤样品具有更高的可接受性。苦味辣木-fortified食物会吸引消费者，这将增加他们的消费，并可能导致减少微量营养素缺乏症的患病率。