Influence of the Essential Oil of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. on Sunflower Oil during the Deep-frying Process of Chinese Maye.

Sunflower oil (SFO) is faced with serious oxidation problems during the deep-frying of Chinese Maye, and the search for natural antioxidants has become a focus of scientific research due to the potential toxicity of synthetic antioxidants. In the present study, the Foeniculum vulgare Mill. essential oil (FVEO), tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) were added to SFO for a 30 h deep frying experiment and the results showed that FVEO added to sunflower oil at 1 g/kg was similar to that of TBHQ-0.01 g/kg, and FVEO-1.5 g/kg would promote the oxidation of SFO. FVEO to sunflower oil also prominently restrained the decrease of the sensory properties of the fried product, Chinese Maye, including appearance, taste, flavor and overall acceptance by 24.2%, 20.2%, 46.1% and 56.0% (p < 0.01 or p < 0.05), respectively. The results indicated that FVEO could be used as a natural antioxidant to replace TBHQ in the deep-frying process of SFO, but further research is needed on the key antioxidant constituent of FVEO.