The Effect of Thymus vulgaris essential oil addition on some quality and microbial properties of sesame blends (Halwa-Ardeh) during storage time

Despite the presence of natural antioxidant the Halwa-Ardeh oxidative stability can be affected by storage condition. The use of thyme essential oils (0.05 and 0.1%) and BHT and their impact on the chemical (acidity, peroxide value and thiobarbituric acid number), sensory and microbiological characteristics of Halwa-Ardeh during the 2 months storage at 4 and 25 °C compared to control samples were evaluated. Based on the results, the oxidative stability of Halwa-Ardeh samples containing BHT were higher than samples containing essential oil during storage at 4 °C, but the peroxide and thiobarbituric values of samples containing essential oil at 25 °C were lower than samples containing BHT. In both storage temperatures, the antifungal activity of essential oil was more than BHT. Also, the panelists were evaluated the sensory characteristics of samples in terms of aroma, taste, color, texture and overall acceptance. The results showed that except for the color, other sensory scores were decreased during storage at both temperatures. The sensory scores of the sample containing 1.0% thyme essential oil were significantly lower than others, and no significant differences were observed among other treatments. In general it can be stated that the addition of thyme essential oil up to 0.05% to Halwa-Ardeh improves antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of samples, and in order to creating diversify of the Halwa-Ardeh can be used in its formulations.