Effect of blanching and cooking on antioxidant capacity of cultivated edible mushrooms: A comparative study

Three common species of cultivated edible mushrooms were analyzed in terms of their antioxidant capacity and total phenolics content. Fruiting bodies of Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus and Lentinula edodes were subjected to blanching in a citric acid solution for five minutes and boiling in water for fifteen minutes. Both ethanolic and water extracts were obtained from the mushrooms and their antioxidant abilities were evaluated with FRAP and DPPH assays. The content of total phenolic compounds in the extracts was determined. Among the three analyzed species, A. bisporus possessed the highest antioxidant capacity and total phenolics content, whereas L. edodes had the lowest. In general, the processing resulted in the decrease of the antioxidant activity and the species which was the most vulnerable to the hydrothermal treatments was P. ostreatus.