Evaluation of physical, chemical and sensorial attributes of different Thai red curry paste (TRCP) formulations to develop as functional ingredient

This study investigated the physical, chemical and sensorial attributes of different Thai red curry paste (TRCP) formulations in order to develop them as functional food ingredients. The assessment included moisture content, pH, color, total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant activity, LC-QTOF-MS/MS, FTIR spectroscopy and sensory evaluation of TRCP samples. Data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA in GraphPad Prism version 10.6.1, with four replicates ( n = 4) for physical, chemical and sensorial measurements. The results showed that the moisture content of the formulated samples ranged from 41.50 ± 0.01% in TRCP reference 2 (TRCP-R2) to 46.81 ± 0.03% in TRCP formula 4 (TRCP-F4). The pH value was slightly lower in TRCP formula 3 (TRCP-F3) compared with the other samples. Significant differences in the color values were observed among the samples ( p < 0.05). The TPC and TFC results showed similar trends, with TRCP-F4 exhibiting the highest values (145.95 ± 0.10 µM GAE/g extract and 380.07 ± 0.22 µM QE/g extract, respectively). In antioxidant assays, TRCP-F4 showed the highest activity in both DPPH and ABTS assays, while the reference sample TRCP-R2 also exhibited relatively high antioxidant capacity. Similar trends were observed for FRAP and MCA assays. The LC-QTOF-MS/MS data complemented the FTIR data, and major phenolic compounds curcumin, capsaicin, and kaempferol in TRCP-F4 and phenolic acids in TRCP-R2 samples were identified. The FTIR spectra confirmed the functional groups at wavenumbers 3100–3600cm −1 , 1700–1770 cm −1 , and 1398–1580 cm −1 , which correspond to OH, COO-, and COOH, respectively. The sensory attributes are also higher in the TRCP-F4. Further study of TRCP-F4 and TRCP-R2 samples for anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic activity is required to observe functional health properties.