Emerging research suggests that there are plenty of leftovers from food and drink you can put to good use.
A new study conducted by researchers at King Faisal University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has shown that if you add coffee grounds or used tea leaves to cake recipes, this may enhance the nutritional value of baked goods and extend their shelf life.
“By incorporating spent tea and coffee waste into the sponge cake mix, the nutritional value of the cake can be enhanced, providing additional health benefits to consumers,” the researchers who conducted the study wrote. They added, “The presence of biologically active compounds in these powders also contributes to the potential antioxidant activity and delays the growth of microbes during storage,” according to what the “Science Alert” scientific website quoted from the “ACS Omega” scientific journal.
Tea and coffee are among the most popular beverages around the world, providing countless people with a daily dose of anti-inflammatories, antioxidants, fiber and even some bioactive compounds with cognitive and cardiovascular benefits.
Unfortunately, the way most of us make these drinks is extremely wasteful; After extraction, about 90 percent of tea and coffee products are thrown into landfill.
In recent years, scientists have been experimenting with possible ways to put all this waste to better use.
More recently, a study found that by adding carbonated coffee to cement, it could make the material 30 percent stronger. But it’s not just the construction industry that should be interested in future recycling efforts.
For this reason, scientists have also proposed using tea and coffee waste to fortify food; In 2020, for example, researchers explored the idea of adding ground coffee to gluten-free foods in an attempt to boost their nutritional value.
In 2023, another study added green tea to cakes to see if the flavonoids in the leaves persisted after they went into the oven. Flavonoids are important plant compounds with anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral properties.
The newer research builds on these previous studies and investigates whether consumed tea or coffee retains antioxidants after being boiled and ground, and whether these materials can be recycled to improve cake nutrition or shelf life.
“We aimed to provide ordinary families with easy-to-use methods to reduce their carbon footprint,” the study authors say. When the research team steeped black tea and Arabica coffee in boiling distilled water for 10 minutes, they found that they still retained a large percentage of their phenolic compounds, which include flavonoids. For example, tea powder retained up to 73% of a phenol called theaflavin trigalate, a powerful antioxidant recommended for those with high cholesterol, obesity or heart disease. On the other hand, the used coffee retained approximately 64 percent of the antioxidant called 1-caffeoylquinic acid, which also has known health benefits. “Even after it went into the oven, these antioxidants remained in the final product.”
Compared to regular sponge cake, cakes fortified with coffee or tea contain higher concentrations of phenols, as well as calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium.
After two weeks of storage, the fortified cakes also showed less microbial growth than the other cakes; Perhaps thanks to the inhibitory effect of selected antioxidants on bacterial growth.
In this context, the results of the new study suggest that leftover coffee or used tea could be a natural and sustainable way to improve the shelf life of baked goods, while at the same time infusing the products with added nutrients.
2023-09-27 13:48:07
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