Photo: Jaime A. Yanez and Connie Remsberg discuss research in the lab of Neal Davies. (Photo by Becky Phillips).
It’s a collaboration as old as the university itself. Photos from the first windswept days of the Washington Agricultural College show a long white greenhouse sitting where the Admin Annex lies today. There, in the late 1800s, researchers from both agriculture and pharmacy worked side-by-side cultivating medicinal plants.
“Many of our early medicines were derived from plants,” said Neal Davies, associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. “Aspirin came from willow bark; digitalis from foxglove; codeine and morphine came from poppies.
“Over the years, the departments of horticulture and pharmacy drifted apart. But today, with renewed public interest in the health benefits of fruits and vegetables, they are being drawn together again.”
One area of interest concerns the Pacific Northwest’s rich production of berries and other fruits. In order to become more competitive in the international marketplace, new ways of preserving fruit while retaining high nutritional quality are being explored.
Berries and health
Current work is focused on the much touted brain-boosting antioxidants found in blueberries. Through a recent seed grant from WSU’s IMPACT Center (International Marketing Program for Agricultural Commodities and Trade), Carter Clary, assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, has teamed with Davies to determine the effect of various drying methods on antioxidant levels in raspberries and blueberries.
While Clary and his team will handle the mechanical aspects of drying and preserving the fruit, Davies and his team will analyze the various batches for their functional chemical properties.
One of the goals of the study, which is co-funded by the Washington Red Raspberry Commission, is to determine if raspberries compare to blueberries in healthful phytochemical content — specifically anthocyanins and polyphenols. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, blueberries are one of the best sources of these antioxidants that can slow the aging process and reduce cell damage that can lead to cancer.
Fruit inclusions
Tree Top, Inc., located in Selah, Wash., is also a co-sponsor, having previously worked with Clary on the development of microwave drying technology in the production of “fruit inclusions” — bits of dried fruit — for the cereal industry.
“The sky’s the limit when it comes to potential markets for dried fruit,” said Clary. “Breakfast is hot right now — and fruit inclusions could also be used in things like muffin and cake mixes.”
As consumer demand for fresh, safe, nutritional fruit products increases, so does the importance of finding economical methods of drying that will best preserve the original color, flavor, shape and phytochemical activity.
Many traditional methods of drying fruit, however, fail to meet those standards. Options such as microwave vacuum and freeze drying retain desirable attributes and nutrition but carry prohibitively high production costs.
Mixing methods
Clary is hoping to offer less expensive alternatives by combining drying methods. Preliminary work has shown good results by predrying the berries with heated air, freezing them and then preserving them in the microwave vacuum.
“You may be able to buy these off the shelf in the future,” said Clary. “They should be about half the price of traditional freeze-dried fruit.”
As the study progresses, Davies and his team will measure antioxidant levels of the raspberries and blueberries in side-by-side comparisons of individual and combined drying methods. Those that preserve the highest concentration of active nutrients will be further evaluated for market potential at Tree-Top, Inc.
Clary and Davies plan to use this project as a jumping off point for further shared studies showing the effects of food processing on the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables.
