RETENTION OF PHYTOCHEMICALS IN FRESH AND PROCESSED BROCCOLI

Our objective was to determine whether steam blanching, storage and pr eparation affected concentrations of sulforaphane (SF), sulforaphane n itrile (SFN), cyanohydorxybutene (CHB), iberin (I) or iberin nitrile ( IN) in fresh and frozen broccoli. Broccoli (var. ''Arcadia'') was grow n in St, Charles, IL over three seasons, Samples were steam blanched ( 2 min at 93 +/- 5 degrees C) within 24h of harvest, frozen and stored at -20 degrees C up to 90 days, and fresh broccoli was stored at 4 deg rees C up to 21 days, Samples were analyzed uncooked or microwave cook ed, SF, SFN, I, IN and CHB were determined by GC in dichloromethane ex tracts from lyophilized samples. Rates of loss for CHB and SF were sim ilar during storage of fresh broccoli. Blanching, storage, and microwa ve cooking decreased (p<0.01) concentrations of each compound in fresh and frozen broccoli.