Increasing consumer awareness of the dangers of chemicals and the effect of heat treatment on the foods nutritional value, lead to increase of the demand for the production and use of fresh or minimaly processed foods. In this study, the ability of cumin, fennel and clove essential oils (concentrations of 50, 75, 100, 200 ppm and pure form) in non-thermal inactivation of courgette peroxidase enzyme were investigated. The results showed that only pure form and concentration of 200 ppm of cumin essential oil and also pure form and high concentrations (100 and 200 ppm) of fennel essential oil were able to reduce the peroxidase enzyme activity in courgette but using concentrations of 50 and 75 ppm of fennel essential oil leads to increase peroxidase enzyme activity. Clove essential oil in all studied concentrations reduced the peroxidase enzyme activity, which indicates the ability of clove essential oil to react with oxygen and inhibit the reaction of enzyme peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase (enzymatic browning reaction). The best conditions for inactivation of peroxidase enzyme under the influence of cumin essential oil included a concentration of 194.5 ppm essential oil and an enzymatic activity time of 0.02 seconds, while the optimal conditions for achieving the lowest peroxidase activity included using 200 ppm fennel essential oil and enzyme activity time of 0 second, and 200 ppm of clove essential oil and enzymatic activity time of 1.7 second.

Keywords: Courgette, Peroxidase enzyme inactivation, Cumin essential oil, Clove essential oil, Fennel essential oil.

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