Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a rhizome that has been used as a healthy herbal plant for years. Ginger’s chemical components are recognized to provide beneficial health effects, namely as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents with the potential to operate as immunomodulators. This literature review covers numerous publications concerning ginger’s immunomodulatory potential, associated with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in modifying the body’s immune system. Pathophysiology of oxidative stress and inflammation were introduced before diving deep down into the herbal plants as an immunomodulator. Ginger’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties are provided by gingerol, shogaols, paradol, and zingerone. Ginger’s antioxidant mechanism is linked to Nrf2 signaling pathway activation. Its anti-inflammatory mechanism is linked to Akt inhibition and NF-KB activation, triggering the release of anti-inflammatory cytokines while reducing proinflammatory cytokines. Ginger consumption as food and drink was also explored. Overall, ginger and its active components have been shown to have strong antioxidant properties and the potential to reduce inflammation. Challenges and future prospects of ginger are also elaborated for future development. Future collaborations between researchers from various fields, including chemists, biologists, clinicians, pharmacists, and the food industry, are required further to investigate the effect of ginger on human immunity. Collaboration between researchers and industry can help accelerate the advancement of ginger applications.

Vacuum frying of fruits enables frying at lower temperatures compared to atmospheric frying, thereby improving quality attributes of the fried product, such as oil content, texture, retention of nutrients, and color. Producing high-quality vacuum-fried fruit is a challenge, especially because of the high initial water content of fruits that requires long frying times. Factors influencing vacuum-fried fruit quality attributes are the type of equipment, pre-treatments, processing conditions, fruit type, and fruit matrix. Pre-treatments such as hot air, osmotic drying, blanching, freezing, impregnation, anti-browning agents, and hydrocolloid application strongly influence the final quality attributes of the products. The vacuum-frying processing parameters, namely frying time, temperature, and vacuum pressure, have to be adjusted to the fruit characteristics. Tropical fruits have different matrix properties, including physical and chemical, which changed during ripening and influenced vacuum-fried tropical fruit quality. This paper reviews the state of the art of vacuum frying of fruit with a specific focus on the effect of fruit type and matrix on the quality attributes of the fried product.

Color is a main factor in the perception of food product quality. Food surfaces are often not homogenous at micro-, meso-, and macroscopic scales. This matrix can include a variety of colors that are subject to changes during food processing. These different colors can be analyzed to provides more information than the average color. The objective of this study was to compare color analysis techniques on their ability to differentiate samples, quantify heterogeneity, and flexibility. The included techniques are sensory testing, Hunterlab colorimeter, a commercial CVS (IRIS-Alphasoft), and the custom made CVS (Canon-CVS) in analyzing nine different vacuum fried fruits. Sensory testing was a straightforward method and able to describe color heterogeneity. However, the subjectivity of the panelist is a limitation. Hunterlab was easy and accurate to measure homogeneous samples with high differentiation, without the color distribution information. IRIS-Alphasoft was quick and easy for color distribution analysis, however the closed system is the limit. The Canon-CVS protocol was able to assess the color heterogeneity, able to discriminate samples and flexible. As a take home massage, objective color distribution analysis has a potential to unlock the limitation of traditional color analysis by providing more detailed color distribution information which is important with respect to overall product quality.

For the production of healthier fruit snacks, vacuum frying is a promising alternative for atmospheric frying, to reduce the oil content, while maintaining a high nutritional quality. This paper evaluates the effect of ripening stages, frying temperature, and time on the quality of vacuum-fried mango. Unripe mango was dehydrated faster than ripe mango and had a higher hardness after frying at 110 and 120°C. Fat content in fried ripe mango was higher. Total ascorbic acid and β-carotene in both ripening stages were not different, but after frying total ascorbic acid in unripe mango remains higher. A novel image analysis was applied to quantify the color distribution of fried mango. Color changes in unripe mango were more susceptible to temperature and time. Considering all quality parameters, vacuum frying of unripe mango at the optimal condition of 100°C for 20 min is preferred for producing high-quality healthier fruit snacks.