Fuente: PubMed "essential oil" Food Res Int. 2026 Apr 30;230:118627. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2026.118627. Epub 2026 Feb 8.ABSTRACTBlanching is widely applied as a pretreatment for drying star anise, yet how different pretreatment routes regulate enzyme activity, tissue structure, and final quality remains insufficiently clarified. Here, hot-water blanching (HB), alkaline blanching (AB), radio-frequency treatment (RF), high pressure processing (HPP), and alkaline-assisted HPP (AHPP) were comparatively evaluated, with freezing incorporated as a non-thermal pretreatment option. Drying behavior, water-state redistribution, color development, enzyme activities, bioactive compounds, and aroma-related attributes were assessed to elucidate structure-function relationships. Freezing-assisted pretreatments provided the most consistent improvement in dehydration, reducing the overall drying time from ∼19 h (untreated) to 13-15 h and markedly decreasing residual bound/immobilized water after drying. AHPP resulted in the highest essential oil yield (1.92-fold), while freezing combined with HPP produced the highest redness parameter (a⁎ = 14.96), closer to market-typical coloration. Although HB fully inactivated PPO and POD, it led to substantial color deterioration. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents decreased significantly after AHPP (p < 0.05), likely due to enhanced diffusion/leaching losses. Overall, the results indicate that pretreatments modulate enzyme activities and quality primarily through controlled structural alteration, and freezing-assisted strategies offer a practical route to improve drying efficiency while tuning key quality attributes of dried star anise.PMID:41794496 | DOI:10.1016/j.foodres.2026.118627