摘要：Mustard oil is one of the most common cooking medium. It is prepared from seeds of Brassica nigra by grinding or pressing. The present study addressed the change in the quality and antioxidant capacity of fresh and commercially packaged mustard oil after heating of oil at different conditions. These types of treatments are usually followed by the road-side food joints in West Bengal, India. The thermal treatment included heating of the oils for 30 minutes, and after keeping overnight, again boiling for 30 minutes. The assays performed included determinations of acid value, saponification value and iodine value, as well as DPPH radical scavenging abilities. The results indicated that there were increases in the acid value and decreases in saponification value and iodine number, all of which indicated deterioration of the oils. It was also observed that the deterioration of the packaged commercial samples were lesser than the fresh samples as were reflected in lesser deterioration of their acid values. However, there were improvements in the radical scavenging abilities of the oils after thermal treatment, probably due to dissociation of the phenolic esters of the oils to release the antioxidative biomolecules. The study indicated that repeated use of the same mustard oil should not be practiced as the quality falls for their reuse.
