The objective of this work was to study the effect of osmotic drying, using different hypertonic solutions (sucrose and sodium chloride), on physicochemical characteristics of pansies (Viola Ö wittrockiana). The same treatments were applied to lettuce to compare the behavior of flowers with other vegetables. Pansies’ superhydrophobic surface structure, called papillae, increased the resistance to exchanges with hypertonic solutions. No weight loss was observed after most treatments (sucrose: between 2.2 and 6.8 %; NaCl: between -23.0 % and 1.5 %), aw maintained high values (> 0,94) and monomeric anthocyanins were preserved (fresh 0.10 and 0.19 mg Cy-3glu/g fresh matter for 20%/1 h in NaCl and 60%/1 h in sucrose). When applying more drastic conditions, as sodium chloride for more than 1 hour, undesirable textural and color changes were observed. For lettuce, all treatments caused osmotic dehydration, weight loss (ranged between -9.3 to -30.3 % for 80%/1 h in sucrose and 15%/1 h in NaCl) and a reduction in aw (< 0,97) and carotenoids, with sodium chloride causing more damage in visual appearance than sucrose. Therefore, immersion in osmotic solutions can be applied to lettuce but the desired effect was not achieved for pansies due to the morphological structure of the flowers’ epidermis.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an ancient fruit tree traditionally cultivated in the Near and Middle East. Presently, its most important growing regions include Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, USA, Italy and Spain, the latter country the largest European exporter. The pomegranate fruit can be divided into several anatomical compartments: outside peel, inside peel, and arils (pulp and seeds), the last part being usually used for consumption as is or for juice, jams and jellies production. Even though pomegranate seeds are an industrial by-product, recent reports have highlighted their potential use as a source of oil with beneficial chemical attributes. Therefore, the main objective of the present work was to characterize the seed oil of nine European pomegranate varieties, collected in Spain, for their fatty acid and vitamin E compositions. All seed lipid fractions consisted mainly of punicic acid (c9,t11,c13 C-18:3), ranging between 77.3% and 83.6% of total fatty acids, followed by small amounts of linoleic acid (C18:2n6), oleic acid (C18:1n9) and palmitic acid (C16:0). Regarding vitamin E composition, α-, γ-, δ-tocopherols were found in all pomegranate seed oils, but mainly γ-tocopherol, with total tocopherols ranging from 174.5 to 627.3 mg/100g oil. The richness of these pomegranate varieties seed oils in punicic acid, a conjugated linolenic acid with interesting anti-carcinogenic activity, and the elevated amount of tocopherols on the extracted lipids, of technological and nutritional relevance, make this by-product interesting for further exploitation.