REDUCTION OF CYANIDE CONTENT IN BAMBOO SHOOTS BY OPTIMIZING TEMPERATURE, HEATING TIME, AND SODIUM CHLORIDE CONCENTRATION

Abstract

The impact of temperature, heat treatment time, and NaCl concentration on the hydrocyanic acid (HCN) content in bamboo shoots (BS) after processing optimization was investigated in this study. The goal was to reduce HCN concentrations in samples of Phyllostachys aurea BS harvested in Oaxaca, Mexico, using designed optimization, by identifying and determining optimal processing conditions. Fifteen treatments with different combinations of the factors were assigned in a Box-Behnken design with a 95 % confidence level and analyzed using Minitab® 19 software. A modification of the qualitative spectrophotometric technique of Guignard sodium picrate was used to quantify HCN. A calibration curve was constructed, showing a quadratic form and high correlation (R2 = 0.965); the resulting equation allowed quantifying the content of the treatments. HCN concentrations in samples were found to range between 0.007 and 0.015 mg mL-1. Among the variables tested, only the temperature and heating time showed a significant effect (p ≤ 0.05) on HCN reduction. Finally, contour plots were built to identify the optimal treatment conditions for the most significant HCN reduction.