Study on improving flavor and antioxidant capacity of 3D printed spinach gel system by combining modified atmosphere and ambient temperature

This study aimed to control printing ambient temperature and oxygen content collaboratively to achieve synchronous improvement of the sensory and nutritional quality of printed products. In this study, spinach juice and potato snowflake powder were used as raw materials to prepare printing materials. The results showed that the printing material with a 20% addition of potato snowflake powder had the best printing performance. Enhancing the flavor of the printed products in the printing process by increasing the printing ambient temperature, the printed product with better flavor quality was obtained at 40 °C. However, the increase in ambient temperature had adverse effects on the color and antioxidant capacity of the printed product, the ΔE value of the printed product at 40 °C was 6.18 ± 0.64. Based on this ambient temperature, reducing the oxygen content in the printing environment inhibited the adverse effects of rising temperature on the color and antioxidant capacity of printed products. When the oxygen content was below 1%, the printed product maintained the color and antioxidant capacity before printing, the ΔE value of the printed product was only 0.95 ± 0.09, and there was no significant difference in antioxidant properties (total chlorophyll content, total carotenoid content, total phenolic content, free radical scavenging activity). Therefore, while successfully improving the flavor of the product, this study achieved the maintenance of color, antioxidant capacity, and other qualities, which is an effective exploration of using 3D printing technology to produce high-quality food.