Non-thermal continuous preparation of pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.)) flavored fruit powder: Identification of characteristic volatile flavor components and exploration of in vivo antioxidant activity mechanism.

In the food industry, the preparation of pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.), AC) powder has mainly relied on traditional juice extraction, drying and granulation, resulting in a significant waste of AC resources. In this study, AC extracts were sequentially prepared from AC flesh by combining high-voltage pulsed electric field (PEF) and ultrasound (US) treatment with ethanol fractional extraction and macroporous resin purification technology, and AC extract mixture-1 (ACEM1) and AC extract mixture-2 (ACEM2) were obtained by compounding different AC extracts. Compared with conventional pressed AC fruit pulp (AC-N), the characteristic flavors of ACEM1 and ACEM2 were significantly enhanced, volatile components linalool oxide, 3-methylbutanal and 3-methylbutan-1-ol were significantly elevated in ACEM1, while 3-Heptanol (D), 3-Heptanol (M) and 1-hexanal were significantly elevated characteristic volatile components in ACEM2. Meanwhile, it was found that ACEM1 and ACEM2 had significant antioxidant activity by scavenging free radicals and enhancing the antioxidant capacity of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). Glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism and alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism were key metabolic pathways that contributed to enhancing the antioxidant capacity of C. elegans treated with ACEM1, while pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis and nucleoside metabolism were key metabolic pathways that contributed to enhancing the antioxidant capacity of C. elegans treated with ACEM2. These results provided references for the efficient and comprehensive utilization of AC resources, the application of non-thermal technology in AC processing, the precise, targeted, and large-scale engineering preparation of AC fruit powder with high activity and strong flavor, and the development of ACEMs in functional and flavored foods.